Walmart stock hits new all-time high; Is $200 next for WMT?

The retail behemoth Walmart (NYSE: WMT) has been performing staggeringly well throughout 2023 despite the precarious situation in the economy. The company’s stock has been steadily rising in value since January 1 and reached an impressive all-time high (ATH) of $165.85 in late September.

By November, Walmart proved that it is still far from running out of steam. On Thursday, November 2, the company’s shares set a new record when they rose to a new ATH of $166.05.

Admittedly, Walmart’s shares were unable to maintain their price until the close but still managed to end the day standing at $165.52 – a 0.39% increase in 24 hours. The retailer’s stock also maintained relative stability into the pre-market and stood at $165.06 at the time of publication.

Walmart’s 2023 performance

Walmart has drawn a lot of attention throughout the year due to its consistently good performance as it managed to avoid the fate of many other popular stocks like Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) which peaked in 2021 and 2022 before experiencing a drop.

The company also experienced a significant boost after surprising many investors with its results in the second quarter. For example, instead of the forecast of $1.69 earnings per share, Walmart achieved $1.84 – beating expectations by 8.88%.

At the time of publication, Walmart’s stock is also outperforming the wider S&P 500 market index. The S&P has experienced an increase of 12.91% year-to-date (YTD) while Walmart is up 15.26% in the same period.

It has also performed rather well throughout October rising by 4.04% over the previous month.

Will Walmart’s success hold?

The forecasts for the future of Walmart’s stock are also rather optimistic. The data from TipRanks demonstrates that many analysts are very optimistic about the next 12 months. Currently, the highest price target for the period stands at $210 and the lowest at $165 – meaning that it is generally expected that Walmart will, at worst, maintain its current price.

Additionally, history shows that Walmart is one of the strongest buy-and-hold dividend stocks out there. Its payouts have been steadily increasing over the years with the annual yield standing at 1.38% at the time of publishing. 

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