Sierra Ocean LLC Takes Position in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)

Sierra Ocean LLC bought a new stake in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund bought 2,984 shares of the retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $270,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in WMT. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its stake in shares of Walmart by 479.6% in the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 18,479,259 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,492,200,000 after purchasing an additional 15,290,936 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its position in Walmart by 12.9% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 63,135,639 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $5,098,203,000 after buying an additional 7,200,004 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted 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 worth $562,280,000 after buying an additional 6,885,106 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Walmart by 3.3% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 87,617,409 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $7,048,465,000 after buying an additional 2,786,061 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its position in Walmart by 4.6% during the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 47,659,844 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $3,848,533,000 after buying an additional 2,107,197 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 26.76% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WMT has been the topic of several research reports. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Walmart from $98.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Walmart from $98.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of Walmart from $80.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $115.00 price target (up previously from $106.00) on shares of Walmart in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Telsey Advisory Group boosted their price objective on Walmart from $105.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Walmart currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $100.53.

Walmart Price Performance

NYSE WMT opened at $104.04 on Monday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $94.99 and a 200 day simple moving average of $85.44. Walmart Inc. has a 52-week low of $55.99 and a 52-week high of $105.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42, a quick ratio of 0.23 and a current ratio of 0.85. The stock has a market cap of $835.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.70, a PEG ratio of 4.25 and a beta of 0.55.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 19th. The retailer reported $0.58 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 firm had revenue of $169.59 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $167.69 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.51 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that Walmart Inc. will post 2.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Walmart news, EVP John D. Rainey sold 38,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $98.80, for a total transaction of $3,754,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 257,281 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $25,419,362.80. This represents a 12.87 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, SVP David Chojnowski sold 5,600 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $91.45, for a total value of $512,120.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 87,404 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,993,095.80. This trade represents a 6.02 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 175,177 shares of company stock valued at $16,403,728 in the last quarter. 45.58% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.