Wells Fargo & Company raises price target for Walmart (NYSE:WMT) to $81.00

Walmart (NYSE:WMT – Get Free Report) The price target was raised by research analysts at Wells Fargo & Company from $75.00 to $81.00 in a report published on Friday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an “Overweight” rating on the retailer’s stock. Wells Fargo & Company’s price target suggests a potential upside of 10.28% from the company’s last closing price.

Other research analysts have also issued reports on the stock. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Walmart from $63.33 to $75.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 17. Bank of America raised their price target on shares of Walmart from $67.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 17. DA Davidson raised their price target on shares of Walmart from $69.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 17. Roth Mkm raised their price target on shares of Walmart from $69.00 to $71.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 17. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Walmart shares from $81.00 to $83.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday. Three equities analysts have rated the stock with a “hold,” 26 have assigned a “buy” rating and one has given the company’s stock a “strong buy” rating. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “moderate buy” and a consensus price target of $77.79.

Read our latest Walmart stock report

Walmart shares rise 0.7%

Walmart stock opened at $73.45 on Friday. Walmart has a 1-year low of $49.85 and a 1-year high of $74.44. The company has a market cap of $590.80 billion, a price to earnings ratio of 31.39, a PEG ratio of 3.95 and a beta of 0.50. The company has a liquidity of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48. The company has a 50-day moving average of $68.86 and a 200-day moving average of $63.37.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT – Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 15. The retailer reported earnings per share of $0.67 for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.65 by $0.02. Walmart had a net margin of 2.88% and a return on equity of 21.57%. The company had revenue of $169.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $168.56 billion. During the same period last year, the company generated earnings per share of $0.61. Walmart’s revenue increased 4.7% compared to the year-ago quarter. On average, analysts forecast that Walmart will report earnings per share of $2.43 for the current year.

Insider buying and selling at Walmart

In other news, Director Timothy Patrick Flynn sold 30,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 21. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.82, for a total transaction of $1,944,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 144,807 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,386,389.74. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, major shareholder Alice L. Walton sold 1,132,123 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 23. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.02, for a total transaction of $73,610,637.46. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 647,371,888 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $42,092,120,157.76. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Timothy Patrick Flynn sold 30,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 21. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.82, for a total transaction of $1,944,600.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 144,807 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,386,389.74. The disclosure regarding this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 11,000,613 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $725,932,010 over the last three months. 45.58% of the company’s shares are owned by insiders.

Walmart institutional trading

Institutional investors have recently changed their holdings in the company. EntryPoint Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Walmart in the first quarter valued at about $25,000. Northwest Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in Walmart by 199.3% in the first quarter. Northwest Capital Management Inc. now owns 440 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 293 shares during the same period. TruNorth Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Walmart by 138.3% in the second quarter. TruNorth Capital Management LLC now owns 429 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 249 shares during the same period. Cultivar Capital Inc. acquired a new stake in Walmart in the second quarter valued at about $29,000. Finally, Partnership Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Walmart in the fourth quarter valued at about $30,000. 26.76% of the shares are currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Walmart Company Profile

(Get free report)

Walmart Inc. operates retail, wholesale, other business and e-commerce businesses worldwide. The company operates through three segments: Walmart US, Walmart International and Sam’s Club. It operates supercenters, supermarkets, hypermarkets, warehouse clubs, cash-and-carry stores and discount stores under the Walmart and Walmart Neighborhood Market brands; members-only warehouse clubs; e-commerce websites such as walmart.com.mx, walmart.ca, flipkart.com, PhonePe and other websites; and mobile commerce applications.

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