Walmart (NYSE:WMT) Earns “Outperform” Rating from Royal Bank of Canada

Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed their outperform rating on shares of Walmart (NYSE:WMT) in a report issued on Wednesday morning,Benzinga reports. Royal Bank of Canada currently has a $105.00 price objective on the retailer’s stock.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on WMT. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Walmart from $75.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on shares of Walmart from $94.00 to $96.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on shares of Walmart from $83.00 to $93.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, November 18th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on Walmart from $89.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Telsey Advisory Group lifted their target price on Walmart from $92.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Two investment 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 company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $94.49.

Walmart Stock Performance

Shares of WMT opened at $91.21 on Wednesday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $90.70 and its 200 day moving average price is $80.96. Walmart has a 12-month low of $53.44 and a 12-month high of $96.18. The stock has a market capitalization of $732.73 billion, a PE ratio of 37.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.41 and a beta of 0.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42, a current ratio of 0.85 and a quick ratio of 0.23.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Walmart

In other news, EVP John R. Furner sold 13,125 shares of Walmart stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $92.60, for a total transaction of $1,215,375.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 566,794 shares in the company, valued at $52,485,124.40. The trade was a 2.26 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO C Douglas Mcmillon sold 29,124 shares of Walmart stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $82.79, for a total value of $2,411,175.96. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 3,843,929 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $318,238,881.91. This represents a 0.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 138,347 shares of company stock valued at $12,311,491 in the last 90 days. 45.58% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Walmart

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in WMT. Peterson Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Walmart during the 3rd quarter valued at about $26,000. Voisard Asset Management Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Walmart by 77.3% in the 3rd quarter. Voisard Asset Management Group Inc. now owns 399 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 174 shares during the last quarter. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. acquired a new stake in Walmart in the 4th quarter worth approximately $32,000. Hoese & Co LLP acquired a new stake in Walmart in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $33,000. Finally, Livelsberger Financial Advisory acquired a new stake in Walmart in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $36,000. 26.76% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.