Van ECK Associates Corp Sells 25,627 Shares of Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)

Van ECK Associates Corp trimmed its stake in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) by 9.8% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 236,480 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 25,627 shares during the quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp’s holdings in Walmart were worth $19,692,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in WMT. EntryPoint Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Walmart during the first quarter valued at $25,000. TruNorth Capital Management LLC increased its position in Walmart by 138.3% in the second quarter. TruNorth Capital Management LLC now owns 429 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 249 shares in the last quarter. Cultivar Capital Inc. purchased a new stake in Walmart in the second quarter worth about $29,000. FSA Wealth Management LLC increased its position in Walmart by 253.0% in the first quarter. FSA Wealth Management LLC now owns 526 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 377 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kozak & Associates Inc. increased its position in Walmart by 216.4% in the first quarter. Kozak & Associates Inc. now owns 503 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 344 shares in the last quarter. 26.76% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Redburn Atlantic raised Walmart to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Walmart from $81.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 16th. TD Cowen increased their price target on Walmart from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 16th. Tigress Financial increased their price target on Walmart from $75.00 to $86.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. Finally, Telsey Advisory Group increased their price target on Walmart from $82.00 to $92.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $83.89.

Walmart Trading Up 0.3 %

WMT opened at $82.45 on Tuesday. Walmart Inc. has a one year low of $49.85 and a one year high of $83.34. The stock has a market capitalization of $662.75 billion, a PE ratio of 42.87, a P/E/G ratio of 4.12 and a beta of 0.51. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $79.93 and its 200 day moving average price is $71.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a quick ratio of 0.22 and a current ratio of 0.80.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 15th. The retailer reported $0.67 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $169.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $168.56 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.61 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Walmart Inc. will post 2.44 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO C Douglas Mcmillon sold 29,124 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $82.79, for a total transaction of $2,411,175.96. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 3,843,929 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $318,238,881.91. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, CEO C Douglas Mcmillon sold 29,124 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $82.79, for a total value of $2,411,175.96. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 3,843,929 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $318,238,881.91. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP John R. Furner sold 13,125 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $82.96, for a total value of $1,088,850.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 593,040 shares in the company, valued at $49,198,598.40. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 12,334,337 shares of company stock worth $958,577,287 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 45.58% of the company’s stock.

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.