Walmart (NYSE:WMT) Stock Price Down 0.2% After Analyst Downgrade

Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)’s share price fell 0.2% during mid-day trading on Wednesday after Evercore ISI lowered their price target on the stock from $67.00 to $66.00. Evercore ISI currently has an outperform rating on the stock. Walmart traded as low as $59.78 and last traded at $59.84. 14,726,259 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 15% from the average session volume of 12,761,192 shares. The stock had previously closed at $59.93.

Other equities research analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on shares of Walmart to $66.67 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 26th. Stifel Nicolaus reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Walmart in a report on Wednesday, March 13th. StockNews.com raised shares of Walmart from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 21st. Tigress Financial upped their target price on shares of Walmart from $65.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 13th. Finally, Telsey Advisory Group reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $68.00 target price on shares of Walmart in a report on Wednesday, March 27th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $61.54.

Insider Activity at Walmart

In other Walmart news, major shareholder Alice L. Walton sold 345,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.93, for a total transaction of $21,020,850.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 652,044,261 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $39,729,056,822.73. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other Walmart news, major shareholder Alice L. Walton sold 345,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.93, for a total transaction of $21,020,850.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 652,044,261 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $39,729,056,822.73. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Jim C. Walton sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.78, for a total value of $117,560.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 656,395,261 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $38,582,913,441.58. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 29,032,265 shares of company stock valued at $1,696,559,224. 46.51% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Walmart

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Walmart in the fourth quarter valued at about $3,674,652,000. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in Walmart by 112,181.6% in 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. BlueSpruce Investments LP acquired a new position in Walmart in the fourth quarter valued at about $568,419,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its stake in Walmart by 15,371.4% in the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 3,511,225 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $553,545,000 after purchasing an additional 3,488,530 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc raised its stake in Walmart by 30.7% in the fourth quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 12,279,324 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,935,835,000 after purchasing an additional 2,887,002 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 26.76% of the company’s stock.

Walmart Stock Performance

The firm has a market cap of $480.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.23, a P/E/G ratio of 3.91 and a beta of 0.49. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $59.45 and a 200 day moving average of $55.44. The company has a quick ratio of 0.24, a current ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 20th. The retailer reported $0.60 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.55 by $0.05. Walmart had a return on equity of 21.08% and a net margin of 2.39%. The business had revenue of $173.40 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $170.85 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.57 earnings per share. Walmart’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that Walmart Inc. will post 2.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Walmart Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, January 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be given a $0.2075 dividend. This represents a $0.83 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.39%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. Walmart’s dividend payout ratio is presently 43.46%.

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.