Beaton Management Co. Inc. Acquires 200 Shares of Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)

Beaton Management Co. Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) by 1.1% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 18,557 shares of the retailer’s stock after buying an additional 200 shares during the period. Beaton Management Co. Inc.’s holdings in Walmart were worth $1,256,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Landmark Financial Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Walmart by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Landmark Financial Advisors LLC now owns 7,055 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,112,000 after buying an additional 70 shares in the last quarter. Syverson Strege & Co increased its stake in shares of Walmart by 2.6% during the 4th quarter. Syverson Strege & Co now owns 3,377 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $532,000 after purchasing an additional 85 shares during the last quarter. Amussen Hunsaker Associates LLC lifted its position in shares of Walmart by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Amussen Hunsaker Associates LLC now owns 15,979 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $2,519,000 after buying an additional 86 shares during the last quarter. Per Stirling Capital Management LLC. boosted its holdings in Walmart by 2.6% in the 4th quarter. Per Stirling Capital Management LLC. now owns 4,009 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $632,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the period. Finally, Pin Oak Investment Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in Walmart by 1.6% during the 4th quarter. Pin Oak Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 6,166 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $975,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. 26.76% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently commented on WMT. Guggenheim boosted their price objective on Walmart from $75.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 16th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on shares of Walmart from $74.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, August 16th. Truist Financial raised their target price on Walmart from $64.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, August 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Walmart from $81.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, August 16th. Finally, HSBC upped their target price on shares of Walmart from $70.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 11th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $78.99.

Walmart Stock Performance

Shares of Walmart stock opened at $78.05 on Friday. Walmart Inc. has a 1 year low of $49.85 and a 1 year high of $81.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a quick ratio of 0.22 and a current ratio of 0.80. The firm has a market cap of $627.80 billion, a PE ratio of 33.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.03 and a beta of 0.51. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $73.24 and its 200-day simple moving average is $66.65.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 15th. The retailer reported $0.67 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.65 by $0.02. Walmart had a net margin of 2.34% and a return on equity of 21.72%. The business had revenue of $169.30 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $168.56 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.61 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that Walmart Inc. will post 2.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Walmart

In related news, major shareholder S Robson Walton sold 4,057,369 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.20, for a total value of $313,228,886.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 611,988,318 shares in the company, valued at $47,245,498,149.60. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, major shareholder S Robson Walton sold 4,057,369 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.20, for a total value of $313,228,886.80. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 611,988,318 shares in the company, valued at $47,245,498,149.60. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, major shareholder Alice L. Walton sold 2,709,163 shares of Walmart stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.37, for a total transaction of $209,607,941.31. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 630,501,148 shares in the company, valued at $48,781,873,820.76. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 12,369,039 shares of company stock worth $959,826,083. 45.58% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

About Walmart

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.