Chesley Taft & Associates LLC Buys 435 Shares of Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)

Chesley Taft & Associates LLC lifted its position in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) by 10.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 4,748 shares of the retailer’s stock after acquiring an additional 435 shares during the period. Chesley Taft & Associates LLC’s holdings in Walmart were worth $429,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Brophy Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Walmart during the third quarter valued at $2,072,000. Bank of New Hampshire lifted its position in Walmart by 13.7% during the 4th quarter. Bank of New Hampshire now owns 47,949 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $4,332,000 after acquiring an additional 5,786 shares during the period. Iowa State Bank boosted its stake in Walmart by 213.8% during the fourth quarter. Iowa State Bank now owns 26,807 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $2,422,000 after acquiring an additional 18,263 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Walmart by 4.6% during the third 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. Finally, Virtu Financial LLC purchased a new position in shares of Walmart during the third quarter valued at approximately $541,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 26.76% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently weighed in on WMT. TD Cowen upped their price target on Walmart from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on Walmart from $80.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Guggenheim increased their price objective on shares of Walmart from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. Tigress Financial lifted their target price on shares of Walmart from $86.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Walmart from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $94.69.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Walmart news, EVP Daniel J. Bartlett sold 1,830 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $91.07, for a total value of $166,658.10. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 460,705 shares in the company, valued at $41,956,404.35. The trade was a 0.40 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO C Douglas Mcmillon sold 29,124 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $91.44, for a total value of $2,663,098.56. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 3,814,805 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $348,825,769.20. The trade was a 0.76 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 97,928 shares of company stock worth $8,978,123 in the last three months. 45.58% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Walmart Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE WMT opened at $93.26 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $749.19 billion, a PE ratio of 38.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.36 and a beta of 0.55. Walmart Inc. has a 1 year low of $53.44 and a 1 year high of $96.18. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $91.47 and a 200-day moving average price of $81.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42, a current ratio of 0.85 and a quick ratio of 0.23.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 19th. The retailer reported $0.58 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.53 by $0.05. Walmart had a return on equity of 21.78% and a net margin of 2.92%. The business had revenue of $169.59 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $167.69 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.51 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts anticipate that Walmart Inc. will post 2.47 earnings per share 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.