Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) Stake Lifted by MinichMacGregor Wealth Management LLC

MinichMacGregor Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) by 27.4% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 7,975 shares of the retailer’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,713 shares during the period. MinichMacGregor Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Walmart were worth $724,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in Walmart by 5.7% during the 4th quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 13,855 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,252,000 after buying an additional 741 shares during the last quarter. True North Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Walmart by 11.4% in the fourth quarter. True North Advisors LLC now owns 11,929 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,078,000 after purchasing an additional 1,225 shares in the last quarter. Traynor Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Walmart by 6.0% in the fourth quarter. Traynor Capital Management Inc. now owns 24,449 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $2,209,000 after purchasing an additional 1,385 shares in the last quarter. Independent Wealth Network Inc. grew its stake in shares of Walmart by 4.2% in the fourth quarter. Independent Wealth Network Inc. now owns 5,568 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $503,000 after purchasing an additional 222 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Janney Montgomery Scott LLC grew its stake in shares of Walmart by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 2,388,709 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $215,820,000 after purchasing an additional 14,501 shares in the last quarter. 26.76% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Oppenheimer increased their price target on Walmart from $81.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 14th. KeyCorp increased their price target on Walmart from $96.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Barclays increased their price target on Walmart from $90.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 9th. Telsey Advisory Group increased their price target on Walmart from $92.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, Tigress Financial upped their price objective on Walmart from $86.00 to $115.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $94.69.

Walmart Stock Performance

Shares of WMT stock opened at $94.84 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 fifty-two week low of $53.47 and a fifty-two week high of $96.18. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $91.81 and its two-hundred day moving average is $81.95. The firm has a market cap of $761.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.92, a PEG ratio of 4.42 and a beta of 0.55.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, November 19th. The retailer reported $0.58 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.53 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $169.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $167.69 billion. Walmart had a return on equity of 21.78% and a net margin of 2.92%. The business’s revenue was up 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.51 EPS. Analysts predict that Walmart Inc. will post 2.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP John R. Furner sold 13,125 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $92.96, for a total transaction of $1,220,100.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 568,626 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $52,859,472.96. This represents a 2.26 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO C Douglas Mcmillon sold 29,124 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $91.44, for a total value 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. This represents a 0.76 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 140,177 shares of company stock valued at $12,895,688. Insiders own 45.58% of the company’s stock.

Walmart 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.