Fairscale Capital LLC Takes $197,000 Position in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)

Fairscale Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 2,812 shares of the retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $197,000.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. AHL Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in Walmart by 192.1% during the first quarter. AHL Investment Management Inc. now owns 24,000 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,444,000 after purchasing an additional 15,785 shares during the period. Core Wealth Advisors Inc. grew its stake in Walmart by 38.9% in the fourth quarter. Core Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 1,501 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $237,000 after acquiring an additional 420 shares during the period. Liberty Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Walmart in the first quarter valued at approximately $270,000. Commerce Bank grew its stake in Walmart by 189.4% in the first quarter. Commerce Bank now owns 917,625 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $55,213,000 after acquiring an additional 600,521 shares during the period. Finally, Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. grew its stake in Walmart by 290.7% in the first quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 270,065 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $16,250,000 after acquiring an additional 200,947 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 26.76% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have commented on WMT. StockNews.com raised Walmart from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 16th. KeyCorp raised their price objective on Walmart from $75.00 to $82.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Tigress Financial raised their target price on Walmart from $75.00 to $86.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Barclays raised their target price on Walmart from $66.00 to $78.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, August 16th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on Walmart from $73.00 to $81.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 16th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $78.99.

Walmart Stock Up 1.3 %

Shares of NYSE WMT opened at $79.06 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.22. Walmart Inc. has a one year low of $49.85 and a one year high of $81.02. The stock has a market capitalization of $635.92 billion, a PE ratio of 33.79, a P/E/G ratio of 4.03 and a beta of 0.51. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $73.44 and its 200-day moving average price is $66.83.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 15th. The retailer reported $0.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.65 by $0.02. Walmart had a return on equity of 21.72% and a net margin of 2.34%. The company had revenue of $169.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $168.56 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.61 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Walmart Inc. will post 2.44 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Walmart

In related news, major shareholder S Robson Walton sold 4,057,369 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.20, for a total transaction of $313,228,886.80. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 611,988,318 shares in the company, valued at approximately $47,245,498,149.60. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Walmart news, EVP John R. Furner sold 13,125 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.20, for a total value of $895,125.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 645,540 shares in the company, valued at approximately $44,025,828. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder S Robson Walton sold 4,057,369 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 owns 611,988,318 shares in the company, valued at $47,245,498,149.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 12,369,039 shares of company stock worth $959,826,083. 45.58% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.