Schear Investment Advisers LLC Buys 868 Shares of Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)

Schear Investment Advisers LLC increased its position in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) by 7.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 12,736 shares of the retailer’s stock after acquiring an additional 868 shares during the quarter. Schear Investment Advisers LLC’s holdings in Walmart were worth $1,151,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WMT. Peterson Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of Walmart in the third quarter worth about $26,000. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Walmart in the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,000. Voisard Asset Management Group Inc. grew its holdings in Walmart by 77.3% during the 3rd quarter. Voisard Asset Management Group Inc. now owns 399 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 174 shares in the last quarter. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Walmart during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Finally, Livelsberger Financial Advisory purchased a new position in shares of Walmart in the third quarter worth $36,000. Institutional investors own 26.76% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently weighed in on WMT. DZ Bank cut shares of Walmart from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $91.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Walmart from $100.00 to $106.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Walmart from $97.00 to $112.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on Walmart from $94.00 to $96.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Finally, Telsey Advisory Group increased their target price on Walmart from $105.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $98.56.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Daniel J. Bartlett sold 1,830 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $91.07, for a total transaction of $166,658.10. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 460,705 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $41,956,404.35. This represents a 0.40 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Robert Edward Jr. Moritz purchased 5,446 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 27th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $91.81 per share, with a total value of $499,997.26. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 7,805 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $716,577.05. This represents a 230.86 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 175,177 shares of company stock worth $16,403,728. Insiders own 45.58% of the company’s stock.

Walmart Stock Performance

Shares of Walmart stock opened at $103.62 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization 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 50-day simple moving average of $94.45 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $84.82. Walmart Inc. has a one year low of $55.85 and a one year high of $103.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42, a quick ratio of 0.23 and a current ratio of 0.85.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 19th. The retailer reported $0.58 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.53 by $0.05. The firm 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% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.51 EPS. Research analysts expect that Walmart Inc. will post 2.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.