Robert W. Baird Issues Positive Forecast for Walmart (NYSE:WMT) Stock Price

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) had its price target lifted by Robert W. Baird from $90.00 to $100.00 in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an outperform rating on the retailer’s stock.

A number of other analysts have also recently issued reports on WMT. DA Davidson increased their price objective on Walmart from $75.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 16th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on shares of Walmart from $71.00 to $73.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 13th. KeyCorp boosted their price target on shares of Walmart from $87.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. TD Cowen increased their price objective on Walmart from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 16th. Finally, Piper Sandler upped their target price on Walmart from $83.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, November 18th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $91.88.

Walmart Price Performance

Shares of NYSE WMT opened at $90.44 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a quick ratio of 0.22 and a current ratio of 0.85. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $82.12 and its 200 day simple moving average is $73.84. The stock has a market cap of $726.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.07, a PEG ratio of 4.20 and a beta of 0.51. Walmart has a fifty-two week low of $49.85 and a fifty-two week high of $90.91.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 19th. The retailer reported $0.58 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.53 by $0.05. Walmart had a net margin of 2.92% and a return on equity of 21.78%. The firm had revenue of $169.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $167.69 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.51 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Walmart will post 2.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Daniel J. Bartlett sold 2,063 shares of Walmart stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.76, for a total value of $166,607.88. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 459,558 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $37,113,904.08. The trade was a 0.45 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Alice L. Walton sold 2,709,163 shares of Walmart stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.37, for a total transaction of $209,607,941.31. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 630,501,148 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $48,781,873,820.76. This trade represents a 0.43 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 12,337,337 shares of company stock worth $958,823,647. 45.58% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Walmart

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Summit Financial Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Walmart by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. Summit Financial Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 23,720 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,915,000 after purchasing an additional 118 shares during the period. Providence Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in Walmart by 0.3% in the third quarter. Providence Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 43,549 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $3,591,000 after buying an additional 122 shares in the last quarter. 3Chopt Investment Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Walmart by 0.4% in the third quarter. 3Chopt Investment Partners LLC now owns 32,633 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $2,635,000 after buying an additional 124 shares during the period. CAP Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Walmart by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter. CAP Partners LLC now owns 6,054 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $489,000 after buying an additional 125 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Investment Advisory Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Walmart by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter. Investment Advisory Group LLC now owns 6,182 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $499,000 after acquiring an additional 126 shares during the period. 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.