Cowa LLC Boosts Stock Position in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)

Cowa LLC increased its stake in shares of Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) by 14.2% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 13,900 shares of the retailer’s stock after buying an additional 1,732 shares during the quarter. Cowa LLC’s holdings in Walmart were worth $1,123,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Walmart by 199.4% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 411,745,334 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $24,774,717,000 after purchasing an additional 274,229,968 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its holdings in Walmart by 181.0% in the 1st 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 period. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its position in Walmart by 1.8% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 36,282,740 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $2,456,704,000 after buying an additional 644,353 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates lifted its position in Walmart by 3.0% in the third quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 16,766,325 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,353,881,000 after buying an additional 484,196 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in Walmart by 5.4% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 16,184,945 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,095,946,000 after buying an additional 834,005 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 26.76% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently commented on WMT. KeyCorp upped their price objective on shares of Walmart from $87.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday. Tigress Financial boosted their price objective on Walmart from $75.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on Walmart from $82.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Citigroup raised their target price on Walmart from $75.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on Walmart from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Walmart presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $83.92.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP John D. Rainey sold 3,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.48, for a total transaction of $232,440.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 384,165 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $29,765,104.20. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, EVP John D. Rainey sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.48, for a total value of $232,440.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 384,165 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $29,765,104.20. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP John R. Furner sold 13,125 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $82.96, for a total transaction of $1,088,850.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 593,040 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $49,198,598.40. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 12,337,337 shares of company stock worth $958,823,647. 45.58% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Walmart Stock Up 1.2 %

Shares of NYSE:WMT opened at $84.87 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $682.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.13, a P/E/G ratio of 4.18 and a beta of 0.51. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $80.53 and its 200-day simple moving average is $71.92. Walmart Inc. has a 52-week low of $49.85 and a 52-week high of $85.54. The company has a quick ratio of 0.22, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46.

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

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.