Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC Raises Holdings in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)

Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC lifted its stake in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 118,663 shares of the retailer’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,257 shares during the period. Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC’s holdings in Walmart were worth $9,582,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. WFA Asset Management Corp boosted its stake in shares of Walmart by 201.0% in the first quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 2,092 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $126,000 after buying an additional 1,397 shares during the last quarter. Dupont Capital Management Corp increased its holdings in shares of Walmart by 165.4% during the 1st quarter. Dupont Capital Management Corp now owns 270,147 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $16,255,000 after purchasing an additional 168,346 shares in the last quarter. EntryPoint Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Walmart in the 1st quarter valued at $25,000. Sheaff Brock Investment Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Walmart by 190.6% during the first quarter. Sheaff Brock Investment Advisors LLC now owns 62,111 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $3,737,000 after buying an additional 40,734 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Atalanta Sosnoff Capital LLC grew its position in Walmart by 197.3% during the first quarter. Atalanta Sosnoff Capital LLC now owns 918,540 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $55,269,000 after buying an additional 609,570 shares during the period. 26.76% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on WMT shares. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on shares of Walmart from $73.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 16th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on Walmart from $88.00 to $92.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday. Barclays upped their target price on Walmart from $66.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 16th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on shares of Walmart from $85.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Walmart from $81.00 to $83.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, August 16th. 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. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $91.49.

Walmart Price Performance

WMT stock opened at $88.32 on Friday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $81.92 and its 200 day moving average price is $73.54. Walmart Inc. has a 12-month low of $49.85 and a 12-month high of $88.64. The company has a current ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 0.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56. The company has a market capitalization of $709.94 billion, a PE ratio of 36.25, a P/E/G ratio of 4.33 and a beta of 0.51.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 19th. The retailer reported $0.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.53 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $169.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $167.69 billion. Walmart had a net margin of 2.92% and a return on equity of 21.78%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.51 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Walmart Inc. will post 2.47 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP John D. Rainey sold 3,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $82.12, for a total transaction of $246,360.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 378,165 shares in the company, valued at approximately $31,054,909.80. This represents a 0.79 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 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 transaction, 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 12,337,337 shares of company stock worth $958,823,647 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 45.58% of the company’s stock.

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.