OmniStar Financial Group Inc. Invests $973,000 in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)

OmniStar Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 12,025 shares of the retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $973,000.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Walmart by 199.4% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 411,745,334 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $24,774,717,000 after purchasing an additional 274,229,968 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its stake in shares of Walmart by 181.0% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 56,861,234 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $3,421,342,000 after buying an additional 36,625,314 shares during the last quarter. Swiss National Bank raised its holdings in shares of Walmart by 187.4% in the first quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 13,303,200 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $800,454,000 after buying an additional 8,674,100 shares during the period. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board lifted its stake in shares of Walmart by 284.0% during the 1st quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 11,122,273 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $669,227,000 after acquiring an additional 8,225,552 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. boosted its holdings in Walmart by 184.1% during the 1st quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 12,567,533 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $756,188,000 after acquiring an additional 8,144,393 shares during the period. 26.76% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Walmart Price Performance

Shares of NYSE WMT traded up $0.61 during trading on Friday, hitting $81.50. The company had a trading volume of 5,668,793 shares, compared to its average volume of 17,095,422. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $77.63 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $69.39. Walmart Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $49.85 and a fifty-two week high of $81.82. The company has a quick ratio of 0.22, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46. The firm has a market capitalization of $655.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.02 and a beta of 0.51.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 15th. The retailer reported $0.67 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.65 by $0.02. Walmart had a return on equity of 21.72% and a net margin of 2.34%. The firm had revenue of $169.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $168.56 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.61 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Walmart Inc. will post 2.44 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Walmart

In related news, EVP John R. Furner sold 13,125 shares of Walmart stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.60, for a total value of $926,625.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 632,415 shares in the company, valued at $44,648,499. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other Walmart news, EVP John D. Rainey sold 3,000 shares of Walmart stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.19, for a total value of $207,570.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 387,165 shares in the company, valued at $26,787,946.35. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, EVP John R. Furner sold 13,125 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.60, for a total transaction of $926,625.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 632,415 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $44,648,499. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 12,337,337 shares of company stock worth $958,267,901 over the last three months. Insiders own 45.58% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on WMT. Melius Research assumed coverage on shares of Walmart in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. They set a “buy” rating and a $95.00 target price for the company. TD Cowen raised their target price on shares of Walmart from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 16th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on Walmart from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on Walmart from $78.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, August 22nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Walmart from $81.00 to $83.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 16th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Walmart has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $82.96.

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.