StockNews.com downgraded shares of Walmart (NYSE:WMT – Get Rating)from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a report issued on Monday.

Several other equities analysts have also weighed in on the company. Roth Capital reissued a buy rating on shares of Walmart in a report on Tuesday, February 14th. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on Walmart from $135.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an in-line rating in a report on Wednesday, November 16th. Barclays assumed coverage on Walmart in a report on Tuesday, February 7th. They issued an overweight rating and a $159.00 price target for the company. KeyCorp raised their price target on Walmart from $155.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a report on Wednesday, November 16th. Finally, UBS Group dropped their price objective on Walmart from $170.00 to $168.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and twenty-four have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Walmart currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $162.44.

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Walmart Stock Performance

Shares of WMT opened at $144.24 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 0.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48. The company has a market capitalization of $388.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.52, a PEG ratio of 4.11 and a beta of 0.52. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $143.57 and a 200 day moving average of $140.38. Walmart has a 12 month low of $117.27 and a 12 month high of $160.77.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT – Get Rating) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 21st. The retailer reported $1.71 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.51 by $0.20. Walmart had a return on equity of 19.54% and a net margin of 1.49%. The business had revenue of $164.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $158.67 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.53 earnings per share. Walmart"s revenue was up 7.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Walmart will post 6.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Walmart announced that its board has approved a share buyback plan on Tuesday, November 15th that permits the company to buyback $20.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the retailer to reacquire up to 5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually a sign that the company"s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Walmart Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 30th. Investors of record on Friday, May 5th will be given a dividend of $0.57 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 4th. This represents a $2.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.58%. Walmart"s payout ratio is 69.14%.

Insider Activity at Walmart

In other news, EVP John R. Furner sold 4,375 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $143.03, for a total value of $625,756.25. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 243,548 shares in the company, valued at $34,834,670.44. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Walmart news, EVP John R. Furner sold 4,375 shares of Walmart stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $143.03, for a total value of $625,756.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 243,548 shares of the company"s stock, valued at $34,834,670.44. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director S Robson Walton sold 493,782 shares of Walmart stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $152.55, for a total transaction of $75,326,444.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 274,138,135 shares of the company"s stock, valued at approximately $41,819,772,494.25. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 5,122,666 shares of company stock valued at $762,689,214 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 47.06% of the company"s stock.

Institutional Trading of Walmart

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of WMT. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in 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 worth $3,240,599,000 after acquiring an additional 22,834,564 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Walmart during the fourth quarter worth about $2,598,736,000. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its position in Walmart by 1,519.2% during the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 8,129,341 shares of the retailer"s stock worth $1,054,376,000 after acquiring an additional 7,627,286 shares during the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. boosted its position in Walmart by 2.9% during the third quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 96,570,711 shares of the retailer"s stock worth $12,525,224,000 after acquiring an additional 2,712,886 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted its position in Walmart by 9.4% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 22,382,688 shares of the retailer"s stock worth $3,173,642,000 after acquiring an additional 1,923,199 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 31.27% of the company"s stock.

Walmart Company Profile

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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.

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