Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management UK Ltd. Invests $1.21 Million in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)

Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management UK Ltd. bought a new stake in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 15,000 shares of the retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $1,211,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of WMT. AHL Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Walmart by 192.1% during the first quarter. AHL Investment Management Inc. now owns 24,000 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,444,000 after purchasing an additional 15,785 shares during the last quarter. Liberty Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Walmart during the 1st quarter valued at about $270,000. Commerce Bank lifted its holdings in shares of Walmart by 189.4% in the 1st quarter. Commerce Bank now owns 917,625 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $55,213,000 after buying an additional 600,521 shares during the period. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Walmart by 290.7% in the first quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 270,065 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $16,250,000 after buying an additional 200,947 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Private Advisor Group LLC grew its holdings in Walmart by 189.4% during the first quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 643,848 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $38,740,000 after acquiring an additional 421,366 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 26.76% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Walmart

In other news, EVP John R. Furner sold 13,125 shares of Walmart stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.60, for a total value of $926,625.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 632,415 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $44,648,499. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Walmart news, EVP Daniel J. Bartlett sold 2,065 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.69, for a total value of $166,624.85. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 457,493 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $36,915,110.17. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP John R. Furner sold 13,125 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now 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 a total of 12,337,337 shares of company stock valued at $958,267,901 over the last quarter. 45.58% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have commented on WMT shares. Telsey Advisory Group upped their price objective on Walmart from $82.00 to $92.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Walmart from $81.00 to $92.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 11th. BMO Capital Markets restated an “outperform” rating and set a $80.00 target price on shares of Walmart in a research report on Friday, August 16th. KeyCorp upped their price target on Walmart from $82.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, October 14th. Finally, Guggenheim raised their price objective on Walmart from $75.00 to $81.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a 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 company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $82.96.

Walmart Trading Up 0.5 %

Shares of WMT stock traded up $0.42 during trading on Friday, hitting $81.31. 12,324,148 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 17,134,037. Walmart Inc. has a 52-week low of $49.85 and a 52-week high of $81.82. The firm has a market capitalization of $654.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.02 and a beta of 0.51. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $77.90 and its 200-day moving average price is $69.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.22.

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

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.