Advisory Alpha LLC Acquires 539 Shares of Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)

Advisory Alpha LLC lifted its holdings in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) by 2.0% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 27,345 shares of the retailer’s stock after purchasing an additional 539 shares during the quarter. Advisory Alpha LLC’s holdings in Walmart were worth $1,852,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Jones Financial Companies Lllp increased its holdings in shares of Walmart by 3.7% in the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 13,185 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $2,079,000 after purchasing an additional 474 shares during the last quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Walmart by 5.1% in the fourth quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC now owns 114,680 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $18,079,000 after purchasing an additional 5,593 shares during the last quarter. Carmignac Gestion bought a new stake in shares of Walmart in the fourth quarter valued at about $38,019,000. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Walmart by 4.4% in the fourth quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 291,016 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $45,879,000 after acquiring an additional 12,362 shares during the period. Finally, ROI Financial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Walmart in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,789,000. 26.76% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WMT has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Walmart from $81.00 to $83.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 16th. Redburn Atlantic raised shares of Walmart to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on shares of Walmart from $82.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday. Guggenheim increased 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. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on shares of Walmart from $71.00 to $73.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-eight have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $81.62.

Insider Buying and Selling at Walmart

In other news, EVP Daniel J. Bartlett sold 2,398 shares of Walmart 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 463,871 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $32,239,034.50. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, EVP Daniel J. Bartlett sold 2,398 shares of Walmart stock in a transaction on Monday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.50, for a total value of $166,661.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 463,871 shares in the company, valued at approximately $32,239,034.50. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP John D. Rainey sold 3,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.19, for a total transaction of $207,570.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 387,165 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,787,946.35. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 12,334,670 shares of company stock valued at $958,025,027 in the last three months. Company insiders own 45.58% of the company’s stock.

Walmart Stock Up 1.2 %

Shares of NYSE:WMT opened at $80.75 on Tuesday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $74.64 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $67.71. 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 $81.60. The company has a market cap of $649.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.56, a PEG ratio of 4.00 and a beta of 0.51.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 15th. The retailer reported $0.67 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 firm had revenue of $169.30 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $168.56 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.61 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Walmart Inc. will post 2.44 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.