Walmart (NYSE:WMT) Price Target Raised to $102.00 at Sanford C. Bernstein

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) had its target price lifted by investment analysts at Sanford C. Bernstein from $98.00 to $102.00 in a research report issued on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an “outperform” rating on the retailer’s stock. Sanford C. Bernstein’s price target indicates a potential upside of 15.49% from the company’s current price.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. TD Cowen increased their price objective on shares of Walmart from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on shares of Walmart from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 15th. DA Davidson increased their price objective on shares of Walmart from $75.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 16th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on shares of Walmart from $80.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Walmart from $66.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 16th. Two equities research 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Walmart presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $91.49.

Walmart Stock Performance

Walmart stock opened at $88.32 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $81.92 and a 200-day simple moving average of $73.54. Walmart has a 1-year low of $49.85 and a 1-year high of $88.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a current ratio of 0.85 and a quick ratio of 0.22. The stock has a market cap of $709.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.33 and a beta of 0.51.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 19th. The retailer reported $0.58 earnings per share 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 business had revenue of $169.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $167.69 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.51 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that Walmart will post 2.47 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP John D. Rainey sold 3,000 shares of Walmart stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.48, for a total value of $232,440.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 384,165 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $29,765,104.20. The trade was a 0.77 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO C Douglas Mcmillon sold 29,124 shares of Walmart stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.64, for a total transaction of $2,348,559.36. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,873,053 shares in the company, valued at approximately $312,322,993.92. The trade was a 0.75 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 12,337,337 shares of company stock valued at $958,823,647. Insiders own 45.58% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Walmart

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. EntryPoint Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Walmart during the first quarter worth about $25,000. Peterson Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in Walmart during the third quarter worth about $26,000. TruNorth Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Walmart by 138.3% during the second quarter. TruNorth Capital Management LLC now owns 429 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 249 shares in the last quarter. Cultivar Capital Inc. purchased a new stake in Walmart during the second quarter worth about $29,000. Finally, FSA Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in Walmart by 253.0% during the first quarter. FSA Wealth Management LLC now owns 526 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 377 shares in the last quarter. 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.