GM Advisory Group LLC Acquires 1,940 Shares of Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)

GM Advisory Group LLC lifted its holdings in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) by 32.1% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 7,986 shares of the retailer’s stock after buying an additional 1,940 shares during the period. GM Advisory Group LLC’s holdings in Walmart were worth $645,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its position in Walmart by 479.6% during the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 18,479,259 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,492,200,000 after buying an additional 15,290,936 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its position in Walmart by 8,814.4% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 6,963,218 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $562,280,000 after buying an additional 6,885,106 shares during the period. BlueSpruce Investments LP boosted its position in Walmart by 186.6% during the 1st quarter. BlueSpruce Investments LP now owns 10,332,775 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $621,723,000 after buying an additional 6,727,200 shares during the period. Boston Partners boosted its position in Walmart by 202.5% during the 1st quarter. Boston Partners now owns 9,431,662 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $567,499,000 after buying an additional 6,314,185 shares during the period. Finally, Swedbank AB purchased a new stake in Walmart during the 1st quarter valued at $320,246,000. 26.76% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Walmart

In other news, major shareholder S Robson Walton sold 4,057,369 shares of Walmart stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.20, for a total value of $313,228,886.80. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 611,988,318 shares in the company, valued at $47,245,498,149.60. The trade was a 0.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, major shareholder Alice L. Walton sold 2,709,163 shares of Walmart stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.37, for a total transaction of $209,607,941.31. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 630,501,148 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $48,781,873,820.76. This represents a 0.43 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 12,337,337 shares of company stock worth $958,823,647. 45.58% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have weighed in on WMT. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on shares of Walmart from $80.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price target on shares of Walmart from $98.00 to $102.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Walmart from $90.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Walmart from $92.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, DA Davidson raised their target price on shares of Walmart from $75.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 16th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Walmart has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $91.88.

Walmart Stock Up 2.3 %

NYSE:WMT opened at $90.44 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $726.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.11, a P/E/G ratio of 4.20 and a beta of 0.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a quick ratio of 0.22 and a current ratio of 0.85. Walmart Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $49.85 and a fifty-two week high of $90.91. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $82.12 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $73.75.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 19th. The retailer reported $0.58 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $169.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $167.69 billion. Walmart had a net margin of 2.92% and a return on equity of 21.78%. Walmart’s revenue was up 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.51 EPS. Analysts predict 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.