Canada Pension Plan Investment Board Trims Stock Holdings in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)

Canada Pension Plan Investment Board reduced its position in shares of Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) by 16.5% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 9,289,637 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 1,832,636 shares during the quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board owned about 0.12% of Walmart worth $629,001,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. EntryPoint Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Walmart in the 1st quarter worth $25,000. Northwest Capital Management Inc grew its stake in Walmart by 199.3% during the 1st quarter. Northwest Capital Management Inc now owns 440 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 293 shares during the last quarter. TruNorth Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Walmart by 138.3% during the 2nd quarter. TruNorth Capital Management LLC now owns 429 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 249 shares during the last quarter. Cultivar Capital Inc. purchased a new position in Walmart during the 2nd quarter worth $29,000. Finally, Able Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Walmart during the 4th quarter worth $30,000. 26.76% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Walmart Stock Performance

NYSE WMT opened at $78.05 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $627.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.35, a PEG ratio of 4.03 and a beta of 0.51. Walmart Inc. has a twelve month low of $49.85 and a twelve month high of $81.02. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $73.24 and a 200 day moving average of $66.65.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last released its quarterly 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. Walmart had a return on equity of 21.72% and a net margin of 2.34%. The company had revenue of $169.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $168.56 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.61 EPS. Walmart’s quarterly revenue was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Walmart Inc. will post 2.44 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WMT has been the topic of several research analyst reports. UBS Group boosted their target price on Walmart from $74.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 16th. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on Walmart from $69.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 6th. Tigress Financial boosted their target price on Walmart from $75.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. DA Davidson boosted their price target on Walmart from $75.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 16th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price target on Walmart from $66.00 to $78.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $78.99.

Insider Buying and Selling at Walmart

In other Walmart news, EVP John D. Rainey sold 25,578 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $67.58, for a total transaction of $1,728,561.24. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 390,165 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,367,350.70. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Walmart news, EVP John D. Rainey sold 25,578 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $67.58, for a total transaction of $1,728,561.24. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 390,165 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,367,350.70. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder S Robson Walton sold 359,616 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $78.25, for a total value of $28,139,952.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 603,989,702 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $47,262,194,181.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 12,369,039 shares of company stock valued at $959,826,083 over the last quarter. 45.58% of the stock is currently owned by 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.