Walmart’s (WMT) “Outperform” Rating Reaffirmed at Royal Bank of Canada

Royal Bank of Canada restated their outperform rating on shares of Walmart (NYSE:WMT) in a research report report published on Tuesday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $102.00 price objective on the retailer’s stock.

Several other research firms have also recently weighed in on WMT. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on Walmart from $93.00 to $118.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Mizuho assumed coverage on shares of Walmart in a research note on Friday, April 11th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $105.00 target price on the stock. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on shares of Walmart from $100.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. KeyCorp increased their price objective on shares of Walmart from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Walmart from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-one have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $103.45.

Walmart Stock Performance

Shares of Walmart stock opened at $98.55 on Tuesday. Walmart has a 1 year low of $59.44 and a 1 year high of $105.30. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $90.62 and its 200 day moving average is $91.65. The stock has a market cap of $788.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.89, a PEG ratio of 4.42 and a beta of 0.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.23.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The retailer reported $0.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.64 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $180.55 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $178.83 billion. Walmart had a net margin of 2.85% and a return on equity of 21.87%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Walmart will post 2.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Walmart Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 27th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 12th will be given a dividend of $0.235 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 9th. This represents a dividend yield of 0.95%. Walmart’s payout ratio is 39.00%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Walmart news, EVP John D. Rainey sold 2,200 shares of Walmart stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $97.37, for a total value of $214,214.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 632,718 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $61,607,751.66. This trade represents a 0.35 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO C Douglas Mcmillon sold 29,124 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $94.19, for a total value of $2,743,189.56. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 4,480,347 shares in the company, valued at $422,003,883.93. The trade was a 0.65 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 133,857 shares of company stock worth $12,444,743. Corporate insiders own 45.58% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Walmart

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Walmart during the fourth quarter valued at $5,737,355,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in Walmart in the 4th quarter valued at about $2,306,627,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in Walmart by 9,896.9% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 7,939,728 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $697,029,000 after acquiring an additional 7,860,306 shares in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC increased its position in shares of Walmart by 37.1% during the fourth quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 25,339,448 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $2,289,419,000 after acquiring an additional 6,860,189 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its stake in shares of Walmart by 14.0% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 32,020,800 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $2,893,079,000 after acquiring an additional 3,927,173 shares in the last quarter. 26.76% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Walmart

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.