Miracle Mile Advisors LLC Buys 154,770 Shares of Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)

Miracle Mile Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) by 354.8% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 198,387 shares of the retailer’s stock after purchasing an additional 154,770 shares during the period. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC’s holdings in Walmart were worth $17,924,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Peterson Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Walmart during the third quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Voisard Asset Management Group Inc. lifted its position in Walmart by 77.3% in the 3rd quarter. Voisard Asset Management Group Inc. now owns 399 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 174 shares in the last quarter. Hoese & Co LLP purchased a new stake in Walmart during the 3rd quarter valued at $33,000. Livelsberger Financial Advisory bought a new stake in shares of Walmart in the 3rd quarter worth $36,000. Finally, Hara Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Walmart in the third quarter worth $37,000. 26.76% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Walmart

In other news, Director Robert Edward Jr. Moritz acquired 5,446 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 27th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $91.81 per share, for a total transaction of $499,997.26. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 7,805 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $716,577.05. The trade was a 230.86 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO C Douglas Mcmillon sold 29,124 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $92.35, for a total transaction of $2,689,601.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 3,785,702 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $349,609,579.70. This trade represents a 0.76 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 138,347 shares of company stock valued at $12,311,491 over the last 90 days. 45.58% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Walmart Stock Down 1.7 %

WMT opened at $91.39 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $734.17 billion, a PE ratio of 37.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.47 and a beta of 0.55. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $90.56 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $80.80. The company has a quick ratio of 0.23, a current ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42. Walmart Inc. has a 52 week low of $53.44 and a 52 week high of $96.18.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 19th. The retailer reported $0.58 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $169.59 billion during 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 firm’s revenue was up 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.51 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Walmart Inc. will post 2.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently commented on WMT. DZ Bank downgraded Walmart from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $91.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Thursday, November 21st. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Walmart from $92.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. Telsey Advisory Group raised their target price on shares of Walmart from $92.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Walmart from $75.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Finally, KeyCorp raised 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. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $94.08.

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.