Bank of America Raises Walmart (NYSE:WMT) Price Target to $175.00

Walmart (NYSE:WMT – Get Rating) had its price objective raised by Bank of America from $165.00 to $175.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Friday, The Fly reports. Bank of America‘s price objective indicates a potential upside of 16.74% from the stock’s previous close.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on shares of Walmart from $160.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $164.00 price target on shares of Walmart in a report on Wednesday, February 22nd. StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of Walmart in a research report on Thursday. They set a “strong-buy” rating on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Walmart from $155.00 to $157.00 in a report on Friday. Finally, Barclays assumed coverage on Walmart in a research report on Tuesday, February 7th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $159.00 price objective on the stock. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-four have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Walmart currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $166.03.

Walmart Stock Down 1.0 %

WMT stock opened at $149.91 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $147.97 and its 200 day simple moving average is $145.71. The company has a market cap of $404.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.47 and a beta of 0.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 0.21 and a current ratio of 0.82. Walmart has a fifty-two week low of $117.27 and a fifty-two week high of $154.64.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT – Get Rating) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 18th. The retailer reported $1.47 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.32 by $0.15. Walmart had a return on equity of 21.30% and a net margin of 1.82%. The company had revenue of $152.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $147.91 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.30 earnings per share. Walmart’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Walmart will post 6.16 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other Walmart news, CEO C Douglas Mcmillon sold 9,708 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $142.37, for a total value of $1,382,127.96. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,371,994 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $195,330,785.78. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, CEO C Douglas Mcmillon sold 9,708 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $142.37, for a total value of $1,382,127.96. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,371,994 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $195,330,785.78. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Jim C. Walton sold 852,215 shares of Walmart stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $144.26, for a total transaction of $122,940,535.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 266,841,420 shares in the company, valued at approximately $38,494,543,249.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 21,044,002 shares of company stock worth $2,981,168,308. 47.06% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Walmart

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Walmart by 1.4% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 130,176,496 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $16,883,890,000 after buying an additional 1,832,388 shares in the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. lifted its position in Walmart by 2.9% during the third quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 96,570,711 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $12,525,224,000 after buying an additional 2,712,886 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Walmart by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 60,659,193 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $7,867,497,000 after buying an additional 701,415 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Walmart by 1.0% in the 1st quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 25,104,994 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $3,691,763,000 after acquiring an additional 249,501 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Walmart by 112,181.6% during the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 22,854,919 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $3,240,599,000 after purchasing an additional 22,834,564 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 31.27% of the company’s stock.

About Walmart

(Get Rating)

Walmart, Inc engages in retail and wholesale business. The company offers an assortment of merchandise and services at everyday low prices. It operates through the following business segments: Walmart U.S., Walmart International, and Sam’s Club. The Walmart U.S. segment operates as a merchandiser of consumer products, operating under the Walmart, Wal-Mart, and Walmart Neighborhood Market brands, as well as walmart.com and other eCommerce brands.