Walmart (NYSE:WMT) Lowered to “Hold” Rating by DZ Bank

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) was downgraded by equities research analysts at DZ Bank from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report issued on Thursday,Briefing.com Automated Import reports. They presently have a $91.00 price objective on the retailer’s stock. DZ Bank’s price target indicates a potential upside of 4.38% from the company’s previous close.

Other equities analysts have also issued reports about the stock. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of Walmart from $80.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday. Citigroup raised their price objective on Walmart from $75.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Guggenheim upped their target price on Walmart from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. Piper Sandler raised their price target on Walmart from $83.00 to $93.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Walmart from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Walmart presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $91.49.

Walmart Price Performance

Walmart stock opened at $87.18 on Thursday. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $81.75 and its 200 day moving average is $73.43. Walmart has a 52-week low of $49.85 and a 52-week high of $88.29. The company has a quick ratio of 0.22, a current ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56. The company has a market cap of $700.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.78, a PEG ratio of 4.33 and a beta of 0.51.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 19th. The retailer reported $0.58 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.53 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $169.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $167.69 billion. Walmart had a return on equity of 21.78% and a net margin of 2.92%. The firm’s revenue was up 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.51 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Walmart will post 2.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Walmart

In other news, EVP John R. Furner sold 13,125 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $82.96, for a total value of $1,088,850.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 593,040 shares in the company, valued at $49,198,598.40. The trade was a 2.17 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, major shareholder Alice L. Walton sold 2,709,163 shares of Walmart stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.37, for a total transaction of $209,607,941.31. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 630,501,148 shares in the company, valued at approximately $48,781,873,820.76. This trade represents a 0.43 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 12,337,337 shares of company stock worth $958,823,647 in the last three months. Company insiders own 45.58% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Walmart

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of WMT. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its holdings in shares of Walmart by 181.0% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 56,861,234 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $3,421,342,000 after purchasing an additional 36,625,314 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC increased its position in Walmart by 479.6% during the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 18,479,259 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,492,200,000 after purchasing an additional 15,290,936 shares during the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board raised its stake in Walmart by 284.0% during the first quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 11,122,273 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $669,227,000 after purchasing an additional 8,225,552 shares during the period. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in Walmart by 12.9% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 63,135,639 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $5,098,203,000 after purchasing an additional 7,200,004 shares during the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Walmart by 8,814.4% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 6,963,218 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $562,280,000 after buying an additional 6,885,106 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 26.76% of the company’s stock.

Walmart Company Profile

Walmart Inc engages in the operation of retail, wholesale, other units, and eCommerce worldwide. The company operates through three segments: Walmart U.S., Walmart International, and Sam's Club. It operates supercenters, supermarkets, hypermarkets, warehouse clubs, cash and carry stores, and discount stores under Walmart and Walmart Neighborhood Market brands; membership-only warehouse clubs; ecommerce websites, such as walmart.com.mx, walmart.ca, flipkart.com, PhonePe and other sites; and mobile commerce applications.