Banque Pictet & Cie SA Sells 1,839 Shares of Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)

Banque Pictet & Cie SA trimmed its stake in shares of Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) by 13.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 12,296 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 1,839 shares during the quarter. Banque Pictet & Cie SA’s holdings in Walmart were worth $1,111,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in WMT. Peterson Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in Walmart during the third quarter worth about $26,000. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Walmart during the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. Voisard Asset Management Group Inc. grew its position in Walmart by 77.3% during the third quarter. Voisard Asset Management Group Inc. now owns 399 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 174 shares in the last quarter. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. purchased a new position in Walmart during the fourth quarter worth about $32,000. Finally, Livelsberger Financial Advisory purchased a new position in Walmart during the third quarter worth about $36,000. 26.76% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WMT has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Bank of America boosted their target price on Walmart from $95.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. UBS Group upped their price objective on Walmart from $100.00 to $113.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. StockNews.com cut Walmart from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on Walmart from $89.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, KeyCorp upped their price objective on Walmart from $96.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $99.17.

Walmart Stock Performance

Shares of WMT opened at $104.04 on Friday. 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 Inc. has a one year low of $55.99 and a one year high of $105.30. The firm has a market capitalization of $835.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.70, a PEG ratio of 4.25 and a beta of 0.55. The business has a fifty day moving average of $94.83 and a 200 day moving average of $85.09.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last issued 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. Walmart had a return on equity of 21.78% and a net margin of 2.92%. The company had revenue of $169.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $167.69 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.51 earnings per share. Walmart’s revenue was up 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Walmart Inc. will post 2.48 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Walmart

In related news, CEO C Douglas Mcmillon sold 29,124 shares of Walmart stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $91.44, for a total transaction of $2,663,098.56. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,814,805 shares in the company, valued at approximately $348,825,769.20. The trade was a 0.76 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP John D. Rainey sold 38,000 shares of Walmart stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $98.80, for a total value of $3,754,400.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 257,281 shares in the company, valued at $25,419,362.80. This trade represents a 12.87 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 175,177 shares of company stock worth $16,403,728. 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.