#BoycottWalmart Gains Steam Post “No Kings” Protests, Walmart Stock (NYSE:WMT) Notches Up

Give giant retailer Walmart (WMT) credit; it smelled a problem coming and it moved to get out in front of it. But it did not quite move quickly enough, perhaps. Walmart now faces some backlash over the recent “No Kings” protests, and boycotts may be starting up accordingly. But Walmart’s move to distance itself from a Walton’s support seems to have worked, provisionally, and Walmart shares got a fractional boost in Monday afternoon’s trading.

Christy Walton, heiress of Walmart, recently took out a full-page ad in the New York Times (NYT) in support of the No Kings movement. Walton, perhaps herself sensing the damage that this could do to her cash cow, openly declared that the ad was paid for by herself, using her own money—the fact that that money pretty much comes from Walmart was quietly ignored—and that this move should not be interpreted as Walmart supporting the No Kings movement.

And thus, incensed Walmart shoppers turned to social media to suggest: “It may be time to #BoycottWalmart. #ChristyWalton, heiress of @Walmart has lost her mind in thinking she can fund revolutions against the American people / consumers.” Florida Rep. Anna Pauling Luna noted that Walmart was “…big mad…” about the China tariffs. This move comes not long after President Trump himself openly advised Walmart to “eat the tariffs”, a move which does not seem to have gone over well.

This Won’t Help Either

If Walmart were not in hot water enough with consumers already, perhaps a round of price hikes will sufficiently set the kettle to boiling. New reports suggest an “overwhelming” wave of price changes is afoot, and this will doubtless prove to be a blow to shoppers already fatigued by price hikes. Multiple stores reported as many as 15,000 items changed prices recently, with one worker noting that over 4,000 changes hit just the clothing section.

To be fair, of course, not all of these price changes are hikes. Some are cuts to reflect promotions or seasonal specials. But the employees are still seeing a whole lot of price changes, to the point where they are increasingly fatigued themselves just by having to make all the changes. Some are even displeased by “…mixed messaging from company leadership.” Indeed, leadership has been seen calling attention to Walmart’s low prices with one hand while actively hiking prices with the other.

Is Walmart Stock a Good Buy Right Now?

Turning to Wall Street, analysts have a Strong Buy consensus rating on WMT stock based on 28 Buys and two Holds assigned in the past three months, as indicated by the graphic below. After a 40.08% rally in its share price over the past year, the average WMT price target of $109.71 per share implies 15.72% upside potential.

See more WMT analyst ratings

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