Vetr cut shares of Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE:WMT) from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a report published on Monday, Analyst Ratings Net reports. The firm currently has $72.55 price target on the retailer’s stock.

In other news, Director Timothy Patrick Flynn purchased 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 2nd. The stock was acquired at an average price of $58.46 per share, with a total value of $584,600.00. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 25,374 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,483,364.04. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link.

Other institutional investors recently bought and sold shares of the company. Klingenstein Fields & Co. LLC boosted its position in Wal-Mart Stores by 4.2% in the fourth quarter. Klingenstein Fields & Co. LLC now owns 6,159 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $378,000 after buying an additional 250 shares during the last quarter. SOL Capital Management CO boosted its position in Wal-Mart Stores by 24.9% in the fourth quarter. SOL Capital Management CO now owns 7,848 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $481,000 after buying an additional 1,564 shares during the last quarter. Numeric Investors LLC boosted its position in Wal-Mart Stores by 264.6% in the fourth quarter. Numeric Investors LLC now owns 1,491,400 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $91,423,000 after buying an additional 1,082,400 shares during the last quarter. Gofen & Glossberg LLC IL boosted its position in Wal-Mart Stores by 6.9% in the fourth quarter. Gofen & Glossberg LLC IL now owns 33,987 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $2,919,000 after buying an additional 2,207 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Shelton Capital Management boosted its position in Wal-Mart Stores by 22.5% in the fourth quarter. Shelton Capital Management now owns 31,201 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,913,000 after buying an additional 5,726 shares during the last quarter.

Shares of Wal-Mart Stores (NYSE:WMT) opened at 67.50 on Monday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $62.25 and a 200 day moving average price of $63.66. Wal-Mart Stores has a 1-year low of $56.30 and a 1-year high of $88.00. The stock has a market cap of $216.13 billion and a P/E ratio of 14.45.

Wal-Mart Stores (NYSE:WMT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 17th. The retailer reported $1.03 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.98 by $0.05. The business earned $117.40 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $117.79 billion. Wal-Mart Stores’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.15 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Wal-Mart Stores will post $4.53 EPS for the current year.

Several other research firms have also commented on WMT. Goldman Sachs set a $58.00 price target on shares of Wal-Mart Stores and gave the company a neutral rating in a report on Monday, January 18th. Sterne Agee CRT reaffirmed a hold rating and issued a $63.00 price target on shares of Wal-Mart Stores in a report on Thursday, October 15th. Independent Research GmbH reaffirmed a neutral rating and issued a $66.00 price target on shares of Wal-Mart Stores in a report on Thursday, November 19th. Nomura set a $70.00 price target on shares of Wal-Mart Stores and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Monday, January 18th. Finally, Morgan Stanley set a $65.00 price target on shares of Wal-Mart Stores and gave the company a neutral rating in a report on Tuesday, January 19th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twenty-one have given a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. The company has an average rating of Hold and an average target price of $65.48.

Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. is engaged in the operation of retail, wholesale and other units in various formats around the world. The Company offers an assortment of merchandise and services at everyday low prices (NYSE:WMT). The Company’s operations are conducted in three segments: Walmart U.S., Walmart International and Sam’s Club. The Walmart U.S. segment operates retail stores in all 50 states in the United States, Washington D.C. and Puerto Rico, with three primary store formats, as well as digital retail. The Walmart International segment consists of operations in 26 countries outside of the United States and includes numerous formats divided into three main categories: retail, wholesale and other. The Sam’s Club consists of membership-only warehouse clubs and operates in 48 states in the United States and in Puerto Rico, as well as digital retail.

12 Month Chart for NYSE:WMT

To view Vetr’s full report, visit Vetr’s official website.

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