Watts Gwilliam & Co. LLC Acquires 4,806 Shares of Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)

Watts Gwilliam & Co. LLC grew its stake in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) by 24.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 24,260 shares of the retailer’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,806 shares during the period. Watts Gwilliam & Co. LLC’s holdings in Walmart were worth $2,203,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Walmart by 3.3% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 87,617,409 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $7,048,465,000 after buying an additional 2,786,061 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its position in Walmart by 12.9% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 63,135,639 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $5,098,203,000 after acquiring an additional 7,200,004 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in Walmart by 4.6% during the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 47,659,844 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $3,848,533,000 after purchasing an additional 2,107,197 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its position in Walmart by 3.7% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 41,501,782 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $3,392,658,000 after purchasing an additional 1,480,927 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc grew its holdings in shares of Walmart by 1.8% during the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 36,282,740 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $2,456,704,000 after purchasing an additional 644,353 shares during the last quarter. 26.76% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Walmart Trading Up 0.9 %

Shares of NYSE:WMT opened at $91.65 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $736.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.61, a PEG ratio of 4.47 and a beta of 0.55. Walmart Inc. has a 12 month low of $52.58 and a 12 month high of $96.18. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $90.16 and its 200 day simple moving average is $80.29. The company has a quick ratio of 0.23, a current ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 19th. The retailer reported $0.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.53 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $169.59 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $167.69 billion. Walmart had a return on equity of 21.78% and a net margin of 2.92%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.51 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Walmart Inc. will post 2.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WMT has been the topic of a number of research reports. KeyCorp upped their target price on shares of Walmart from $96.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Guggenheim boosted their target price on Walmart from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price target on Walmart from $98.00 to $102.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. Redburn Atlantic upgraded Walmart to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. Finally, Piper Sandler upped their target price on shares of Walmart from $83.00 to $93.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Walmart presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $93.95.

Insider Buying and Selling at Walmart

In other news, CEO C Douglas Mcmillon sold 29,124 shares of Walmart stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $92.35, for a total value of $2,689,601.40. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,785,702 shares in the company, valued at $349,609,579.70. This trade represents a 0.76 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Daniel J. Bartlett sold 2,065 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.69, for a total transaction of $166,624.85. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 457,493 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $36,915,110.17. The trade was a 0.45 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 140,412 shares of company stock worth $12,478,116. Corporate insiders own 45.58% of the company’s stock.

About Walmart

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.