Heartland Bank & Trust Co Decreases Position in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)

Heartland Bank & Trust Co reduced its position in shares of Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) by 1.3% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 26,654 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 351 shares during the period. Walmart accounts for about 1.0% of Heartland Bank & Trust Co’s portfolio, making the stock its 16th largest holding. Heartland Bank & Trust Co’s holdings in Walmart were worth $1,805,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in WMT. Syverson Strege & Co raised its holdings in Walmart by 2.6% in the 4th quarter. Syverson Strege & Co now owns 3,377 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $532,000 after acquiring an additional 85 shares during the last quarter. Amussen Hunsaker Associates LLC increased its holdings in shares of Walmart by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Amussen Hunsaker Associates LLC now owns 15,979 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $2,519,000 after purchasing an additional 86 shares during the last quarter. Per Stirling Capital Management LLC. lifted its position in Walmart by 2.6% during the fourth 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 in the last quarter. Pin Oak Investment Advisors Inc. lifted its position in Walmart by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. Pin Oak Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 6,166 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $975,000 after buying an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pinnacle Holdings LLC boosted its stake in Walmart by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Pinnacle Holdings LLC now owns 11,560 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,822,000 after buying an additional 108 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 26.76% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WMT has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. DA Davidson raised their target price on Walmart from $75.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 16th. Guggenheim raised their price objective on shares of Walmart from $75.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 16th. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Walmart from $75.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Walmart from $74.00 to $81.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 16th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on shares of Walmart from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-eight have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Walmart currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $81.62.

Walmart Stock Performance

Shares of WMT stock opened at $80.75 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $74.64 and a two-hundred day moving average of $67.71. The stock has a market capitalization of $649.09 billion, a PE ratio of 34.56, a P/E/G ratio of 4.00 and a beta of 0.51. The company has a quick ratio of 0.22, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46. Walmart Inc. has a 52 week low of $49.85 and a 52 week high of $81.60.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last released its earnings results 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 firm had revenue of $169.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $168.56 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.61 earnings per share. Walmart’s revenue was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that Walmart Inc. will post 2.44 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Walmart

In other Walmart news, CEO C Douglas Mcmillon sold 29,124 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.61, for a total transaction of $2,056,445.64. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 3,931,301 shares in the company, valued at approximately $277,589,163.61. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, EVP John R. Furner sold 13,125 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.04, for a total transaction of $1,063,650.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 606,165 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $49,123,611.60. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO C Douglas Mcmillon sold 29,124 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.61, for a total value of $2,056,445.64. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,931,301 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $277,589,163.61. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 12,334,670 shares of company stock valued at $958,025,027. 45.58% of the stock is currently owned by corporate 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.