Walmart Inc. engages in the operation of retail, wholesale, and other units 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; membership-only warehouse clubs; ecommerce websites, such as walmart.com, walmart.com.mx, walmart.ca, flipkart.com, and samsclub.com; and mobile commerce applications. The company offers grocery and consumables, which includes dairy, meat, bakery, deli, produce, dry, chilled or frozen packaged foods, alcoholic and nonalcoholic beverages, floral, snack foods, candy, other grocery items, health and beauty aids, paper goods, laundry and home care, baby care, pet supplies, and other consumable items; and health and wellness products covering pharmacy, over-the-counter drugs and other medical products, and optical and hearing services. It also provides gasoline stations and tobacco; home improvement, outdoor living, gardening, furniture, apparel, jewelry, tools and power equipment, housewares, toys, seasonal items, mattresses, and tire and battery centers; and consumer electronics and accessories, software, video games, office supplies, appliances, and third-party gift cards. In addition, the company offers fuel and financial services and related products, including money orders, prepaid cards, money transfers, and check cashing and bill payment, as well as various types of installment lending. It operates approximately 10,500 stores and various e-commerce websites under 46 banners in 24 countries. The company was formerly known as Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. and changed its name to Walmart Inc. in February 2018. The company was founded in 1945 and is based in Bentonville, Arkansas.
Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth
A number of brokerages have recently commented on WMT. Gordon Haskett dropped their target price on shares of Walmart from $140.00 to $135.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, May 18th. Truist Financial dropped their price target on shares of Walmart from $139.00 to $117.00 in a research note on Tuesday, July 26th. Guggenheim dropped their price target on shares of Walmart from $185.00 to $175.00 and set a "na" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, May 18th. UBS Group decreased their target price on Walmart from $165.00 to $152.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, July 26th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group set a $135.00 target price on Walmart in a research report on Tuesday, July 26th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and eighteen have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $151.00.
Walmart Price Performance
Shares of NYSE:WMT traded up $1.01 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $126.58. 10,668,955 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 8,804,530. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 0.23. The stock has a market capitalization of $346.97 billion, a PE ratio of 27.22, a P/E/G ratio of 4.05 and a beta of 0.53. Walmart has a one year low of $117.27 and a one year high of $160.77. The company's 50 day moving average is $125.33 and its 200 day moving average is $137.00.
Walmart (NYSE:WMT - Get Rating) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 17th. The retailer reported $1.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.48 by ($0.18). The company had revenue of $141.60 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $138.05 billion. Walmart had a return on equity of 19.05% and a net margin of 2.26%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 2.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.69 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Walmart will post 5.68 earnings per share for the current year.
Insider Buying and Selling
In other Walmart news, CEO C Douglas Mcmillon sold 9,708 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $122.13, for a total value of $1,185,638.04. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,517,160 shares in the company, valued at $185,290,750.80. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders sold a total of 29,124 shares of company stock worth $3,638,461 over the last three months. 47.06% of the stock is owned by insiders.