Soltis Investment Advisors LLC Takes $295,000 Position in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)

Soltis Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 4,906 shares of the retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $295,000.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. AHL Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in Walmart by 192.1% in the first quarter. AHL Investment Management Inc. now owns 24,000 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,444,000 after buying an additional 15,785 shares during the last quarter. Valley Brook Capital Group Inc. grew its holdings in Walmart by 4.2% during the fourth quarter. Valley Brook Capital Group Inc. now owns 7,816 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,232,000 after purchasing an additional 315 shares during the last quarter. Core Wealth Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in Walmart by 38.9% during the fourth quarter. Core Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 1,501 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $237,000 after purchasing an additional 420 shares during the last quarter. Liberty Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Walmart during the first quarter valued at approximately $270,000. Finally, Commerce Bank grew its holdings in Walmart by 189.4% during the first quarter. Commerce Bank now owns 917,625 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $55,213,000 after purchasing an additional 600,521 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 26.76% of the company’s stock.

Walmart Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:WMT traded down $1.33 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $68.46. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 23,578,664 shares, compared to its average volume of 14,048,109. Walmart Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $49.85 and a fifty-two week high of $71.33. The company has a market capitalization of $550.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.30, a P/E/G ratio of 4.02 and a beta of 0.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.23. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $68.23 and its 200-day simple moving average is $62.29.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 16th. The retailer reported $0.60 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.52 by $0.08. Walmart had a return on equity of 21.57% and a net margin of 2.88%. The company had revenue of $161.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $159.57 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.49 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 6.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Walmart Inc. will post 2.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Daniel J. Bartlett sold 2,398 shares of Walmart stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.50, for a total value of $166,661.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 463,871 shares in the company, valued at $32,239,034.50. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, EVP Daniel J. Bartlett sold 2,398 shares of Walmart stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.50, for a total value of $166,661.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 463,871 shares in the company, valued at $32,239,034.50. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO C Douglas Mcmillon sold 29,124 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.61, for a total value of $2,056,445.64. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 3,931,301 shares in the company, valued at approximately $277,589,163.61. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 14,537,863 shares of company stock worth $954,247,577 over the last three months. 45.58% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have commented on the company. Roth Mkm increased their price target on Walmart from $69.00 to $71.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 17th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on Walmart from $75.00 to $77.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, June 10th. TD Cowen increased their price target on Walmart from $68.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 17th. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on Walmart from $65.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, May 17th. Finally, DA Davidson increased their price objective on Walmart from $69.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 17th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-eight have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $71.60.

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.