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
Several analysts have issued reports on the company. Bank of America cut their price objective on Walmart from $160.00 to $145.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, July 26th. Gordon Haskett lowered their target price on shares of Walmart from $140.00 to $135.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, May 18th. Guggenheim reduced their price target on shares of Walmart from $185.00 to $175.00 and set a "na" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, May 18th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of Walmart from $165.00 to $150.00 and set a "na" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, May 17th. Finally, Evercore ISI cut their target price on shares of Walmart from $135.00 to $120.00 and set an "in-line" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 26th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and eighteen have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Walmart currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $151.00.
Walmart Price Performance
Shares of WMT traded up $2.40 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $132.22. The company's stock had a trading volume of 8,874,966 shares, compared to its average volume of 9,554,679. 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 firm has a 50-day moving average price of $125.57 and a 200 day moving average price of $136.66. Walmart has a fifty-two week low of $117.27 and a fifty-two week high of $160.77. The stock has a market capitalization of $362.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.43, a PEG ratio of 4.15 and a beta of 0.53.
Walmart (NYSE:WMT - Get Rating) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 17th. The retailer reported $1.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.48 by ($0.18). Walmart had a return on equity of 19.05% and a net margin of 2.26%. The business had revenue of $141.60 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $138.05 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.69 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was up 2.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that Walmart will post 5.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.
Insider Transactions at Walmart
In related news, CEO C Douglas Mcmillon sold 9,708 shares of Walmart stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $125.61, for a total value of $1,219,421.88. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,526,864 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $191,789,387.04. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders have sold 29,124 shares of company stock valued at $3,638,461 over the last three months. Company insiders own 47.06% of the company's stock.