Royal Bank of Canada Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Walmart (NYSE:WMT) Stock

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) had its target price boosted by investment analysts at Royal Bank of Canada from $88.00 to $92.00 in a research report issued on Monday. The brokerage presently has an “overweight” rating on the retailer’s stock. Royal Bank of Canada’s price target indicates a potential upside of 9.47% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other analysts have also recently commented on the stock. Sanford C. Bernstein initiated coverage on shares of Walmart in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. They set an “outperform” rating and a $95.00 target price for the company. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Walmart from $82.00 to $89.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Piper Sandler upped their target price on shares of Walmart from $83.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday. Redburn Atlantic upgraded shares of Walmart to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. Finally, Melius Research initiated coverage on shares of Walmart in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $95.00 target price for the company. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-eight have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Walmart presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $86.71.

Walmart Stock Down 0.2 %

WMT traded down $0.21 during trading on Monday, reaching $84.04. 15,210,652 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 16,704,951. Walmart has a fifty-two week low of $49.85 and a fifty-two week high of $85.79. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $81.29 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $72.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.22. The stock has a market cap of $675.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.20 and a beta of 0.51.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 15th. The retailer reported $0.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.65 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $169.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $168.56 billion. Walmart had a return on equity of 21.72% and a net margin of 2.34%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.61 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Walmart will post 2.44 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Walmart

In other Walmart news, CEO C Douglas Mcmillon sold 29,124 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.64, for a total value of $2,348,559.36. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 3,873,053 shares in the company, valued at approximately $312,322,993.92. This represents a 0.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP John D. Rainey sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, November 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $82.12, for a total value of $246,360.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 378,165 shares in the company, valued at approximately $31,054,909.80. The trade was a 0.79 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 12,337,337 shares of company stock valued at $958,823,647. 45.58% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Peterson Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of Walmart in the third quarter valued at $26,000. Voisard Asset Management Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Walmart by 77.3% during the 3rd quarter. Voisard Asset Management Group Inc. now owns 399 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 174 shares in the last quarter. Hoese & Co LLP purchased a new position in shares of Walmart during the 3rd quarter valued at $33,000. EntryPoint Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Walmart during the 1st quarter valued at $25,000. Finally, TruNorth Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Walmart by 138.3% during the 2nd quarter. TruNorth Capital Management LLC now owns 429 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 249 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.