Walmart (NYSE:WMT) Trading Down 0.2% After Analyst Downgrade

Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) shares fell 0.2% during mid-day trading on Wednesday after Evercore ISI lowered their price target on the stock from $67.00 to $66.00. Evercore ISI currently has an outperform rating on the stock. Walmart traded as low as $59.78 and last traded at $59.84. 14,726,259 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 15% from the average session volume of 12,761,192 shares. The stock had previously closed at $59.93.

Several other equities analysts have also issued reports on the company. StockNews.com upgraded Walmart from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 21st. Stifel Nicolaus reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Walmart in a research report on Wednesday, March 13th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on Walmart from $62.00 to $63.33 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 16th. Stifel Europe boosted their price objective on Walmart from $56.33 to $58.33 in a research report on Friday, February 16th. Finally, Oppenheimer decreased their price objective on Walmart to $67.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 26th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Walmart currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $61.54.

Insider Transactions at Walmart

In other Walmart news, CEO C Douglas Mcmillon sold 29,124 shares of Walmart stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $53.54, for a total value of $1,559,298.96. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 4,274,475 shares in the company, valued at $228,855,391.50. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other Walmart news, Director S Robson Walton sold 5,816,175 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.95, for a total value of $337,066,728.50. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 677,052,654 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $39,237,458,141.48. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO C Douglas Mcmillon sold 29,124 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.54, for a total value of $1,559,298.96. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 4,274,475 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $228,855,391.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 29,032,265 shares of company stock worth $1,696,559,224 over the last ninety days. 46.51% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. SeaTown Holdings Pte. Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Walmart by 26.6% during the third quarter. SeaTown Holdings Pte. Ltd. now owns 252,600 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $40,398,000 after buying an additional 53,000 shares during the last quarter. Railway Pension Investments Ltd boosted its position in shares of Walmart by 28.0% during the third quarter. Railway Pension Investments Ltd now owns 767,013 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $122,668,000 after buying an additional 167,800 shares during the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp boosted its position in Walmart by 1.5% in the third quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 1,480,971 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $235,608,000 after purchasing an additional 21,899 shares during the last quarter. Artemis Investment Management LLP boosted its position in Walmart by 51.8% in the third quarter. Artemis Investment Management LLP now owns 346,705 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $55,423,000 after purchasing an additional 118,267 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fiduciary Alliance LLC boosted its position in Walmart by 34.8% in the third quarter. Fiduciary Alliance LLC now owns 4,630 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $740,000 after purchasing an additional 1,196 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 26.76% of the company’s stock.

Walmart Stock Performance

The firm has a market cap of $477.36 billion, a PE ratio of 30.96, a PEG ratio of 3.91 and a beta of 0.49. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $59.51 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $55.47. The company has a quick ratio of 0.24, a current ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 20th. The retailer reported $0.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.55 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $173.40 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $170.85 billion. Walmart had a return on equity of 21.08% and a net margin of 2.39%. The business’s revenue was up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.57 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Walmart Inc. will post 2.36 earnings per share for the current year.

Walmart Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, January 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be paid a $0.2075 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $0.83 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.40%. Walmart’s payout ratio is presently 43.38%.

About Walmart

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.