Brookstone Capital Management Reduces Position in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)

Brookstone Capital Management cut its position in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) by 4.0% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 272,041 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 11,448 shares during the period. Brookstone Capital Management’s holdings in Walmart were worth $21,967,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Walmart by 199.4% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 411,745,334 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $24,774,717,000 after buying an additional 274,229,968 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its position in shares of Walmart by 181.0% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 56,861,234 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $3,421,342,000 after buying an additional 36,625,314 shares during the last quarter. Swiss National Bank grew its position in Walmart by 187.4% during the 1st quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 13,303,200 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $800,454,000 after purchasing an additional 8,674,100 shares during the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board grew its position in Walmart by 284.0% during the 1st quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 11,122,273 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $669,227,000 after purchasing an additional 8,225,552 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. grew its position in Walmart by 184.1% during the 1st quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 12,567,533 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $756,188,000 after purchasing an additional 8,144,393 shares during the last quarter. 26.76% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have issued reports on WMT. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price objective on shares of Walmart from $77.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 16th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on shares of Walmart from $71.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 13th. KeyCorp raised their price objective on shares of Walmart from $75.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. Melius Research initiated coverage on shares of Walmart in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $95.00 target price for the company. Finally, HSBC raised 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. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $81.96.

Walmart Trading Up 0.8 %

NYSE WMT opened at $79.71 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $640.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.05 and a beta of 0.51. Walmart Inc. has a 12 month low of $49.85 and a 12 month high of $81.60. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $75.67 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $68.39. 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 (NYSE:WMT) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, August 15th. The retailer reported $0.67 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.65 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $169.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $168.56 billion. Walmart had a net margin of 2.34% and a return on equity of 21.72%. The firm’s revenue was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.61 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Walmart Inc. will post 2.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Walmart news, EVP Daniel J. Bartlett sold 2,398 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.50, for a total transaction of $166,661.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 463,871 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $32,239,034.50. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, major shareholder S Robson Walton sold 4,057,369 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the insider now owns 611,988,318 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $47,245,498,149.60. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Daniel J. Bartlett sold 2,398 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.50, for a total transaction of $166,661.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 463,871 shares in the company, valued at approximately $32,239,034.50. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 12,337,670 shares of company stock valued at $958,267,937. Company insiders own 45.58% of the company’s stock.

Walmart Company 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.