Schear Investment Advisers LLC Boosts Stock Position in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)

Schear Investment Advisers LLC grew its position in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) by 7.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 12,736 shares of the retailer’s stock after purchasing an additional 868 shares during the period. Schear Investment Advisers LLC’s holdings in Walmart were worth $1,151,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of WMT. Creative Planning lifted its position in Walmart by 4.9% during the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 1,800,743 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $142,973,000 after purchasing an additional 83,376 shares during the period. Swedbank AB raised its stake in shares of Walmart by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 5,345,293 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $431,632,000 after buying an additional 18,644 shares during the last quarter. Prospect Financial Services LLC purchased a new position in shares of Walmart during the 3rd quarter valued at about $285,000. First United Bank & Trust lifted its holdings in shares of Walmart by 8.7% in the 3rd quarter. First United Bank & Trust now owns 8,555 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $691,000 after buying an additional 685 shares during the period. Finally, Acorn Creek Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Walmart in the third quarter worth about $258,000. 26.76% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Walmart Stock Up 1.1 %

Shares of NYSE WMT opened at $103.62 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $832.42 billion, a PE ratio of 42.53, a P/E/G ratio of 4.25 and a beta of 0.55. The company has a current ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 0.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42. Walmart Inc. has a 12-month low of $55.85 and a 12-month high of $103.90. The company has a 50-day moving average of $94.45 and a 200 day moving average of $84.82.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 19th. The retailer reported $0.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $167.69 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.51 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Walmart Inc. will post 2.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently weighed in on WMT. KeyCorp lifted their price target on Walmart from $96.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of Walmart from $95.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on shares of Walmart from $89.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Walmart from $100.00 to $106.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, Piper Sandler increased their target price on shares of Walmart from $83.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, November 18th. Two research 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 company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Walmart presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $98.56.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP John R. Furner sold 13,125 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $92.00, for a total value of $1,207,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 579,915 shares in the company, valued at approximately $53,352,180. This represents a 2.21 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Robert Edward Jr. Moritz bought 5,446 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 27th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $91.81 per share, with a total value of $499,997.26. Following the purchase, the director now owns 7,805 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $716,577.05. The trade was a 230.86 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders sold 175,177 shares of company stock valued at $16,403,728 in the last three months. 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.