Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) Shares Purchased by Compass Ion Advisors LLC

Compass Ion Advisors LLC boosted its position in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) by 200.0% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 6,847 shares of the retailer’s stock after buying an additional 4,565 shares during the quarter. Compass Ion Advisors LLC’s holdings in Walmart were worth $412,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Walmart by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 137,214,807 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $21,944,764,000 after buying an additional 751,713 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley increased its position in shares of Walmart by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 24,087,268 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $3,852,277,000 after purchasing an additional 426,388 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Walmart in the 4th quarter worth about $3,674,652,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its position in shares of Walmart by 11.9% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 20,235,920 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $3,190,194,000 after purchasing an additional 2,150,351 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of Walmart by 4.8% in the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 9,550,281 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,505,602,000 after purchasing an additional 435,253 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 26.76% of the company’s stock.

Walmart Trading Down 0.3 %

Shares of NYSE:WMT opened at $67.48 on Tuesday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $64.07 and a 200-day moving average of $59.41. The firm has a market cap of $542.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.88, a P/E/G ratio of 3.91 and a beta of 0.50. Walmart Inc. has a twelve month low of $49.85 and a twelve month high of $69.04. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 16th. The retailer reported $0.60 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.52 by $0.08. Walmart had a net margin of 2.88% and a return on equity of 21.57%. The business had revenue of $161.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $159.57 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.49 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 6.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that Walmart Inc. will post 2.42 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on WMT shares. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Walmart from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 17th. Roth Mkm boosted their target price on shares of Walmart from $69.00 to $71.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 17th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on shares of Walmart from $62.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, May 17th. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on shares of Walmart from $68.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 17th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Walmart from $63.00 to $69.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 7th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Walmart has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $70.41.

Insider Activity at Walmart

In related news, EVP John R. Furner sold 13,125 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.20, for a total transaction of $895,125.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 645,540 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $44,025,828. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, EVP John D. Rainey sold 3,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.08, for a total value of $177,240.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 521,613 shares in the company, valued at approximately $30,816,896.04. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP John R. Furner sold 13,125 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.20, for a total transaction of $895,125.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 645,540 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $44,025,828. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 14,499,762 shares of company stock valued at $951,294,838 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 45.58% of the company’s stock.

Walmart Profile

Walmart Inc engages in the operation of retail, wholesale, other units, and eCommerce 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 under Walmart and Walmart Neighborhood Market brands; membership-only warehouse clubs; ecommerce websites, such as walmart.com.mx, walmart.ca, flipkart.com, PhonePe and other sites; and mobile commerce applications.