Sheets Smith Wealth Management Trims Stock Holdings in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)

Sheets Smith Wealth Management cut its holdings in shares of Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 20,984 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 461 shares during the quarter. Sheets Smith Wealth Management’s holdings in Walmart were worth $1,694,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Walmart by 199.4% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 411,745,334 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $24,774,717,000 after buying an additional 274,229,968 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its stake in Walmart by 181.0% during 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 acquiring an additional 36,625,314 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc grew its holdings in Walmart by 1.8% during the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 36,282,740 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $2,456,704,000 after acquiring an additional 644,353 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates increased its position in shares of Walmart by 3.0% in the 3rd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 16,766,325 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,353,881,000 after purchasing an additional 484,196 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of Walmart by 5.4% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 16,184,945 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,095,946,000 after purchasing an additional 834,005 shares in the last quarter. 26.76% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have issued reports on WMT. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Walmart from $81.00 to $83.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 16th. Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $83.00 price target (up from $81.00) on shares of Walmart in a research report on Friday, August 16th. TD Cowen raised their price objective on Walmart from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 16th. DA Davidson boosted their target price on shares of Walmart from $75.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 16th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $80.00 target price on shares of Walmart in a report on Friday, August 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Walmart presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $83.92.

Walmart Trading Up 1.2 %

Shares of NYSE:WMT opened at $84.83 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $80.53 and a 200-day moving average of $71.92. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46. The firm has a market cap of $681.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.11, a P/E/G ratio of 4.25 and a beta of 0.51. Walmart Inc. has a twelve month low of $49.85 and a twelve month high of $85.54.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last released its earnings results on Thursday, August 15th. The retailer reported $0.67 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $168.56 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.61 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that Walmart Inc. will post 2.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Walmart

In other Walmart news, major shareholder Alice L. Walton sold 2,375,563 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $76.96, for a total value of $182,823,328.48. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 619,646,544 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $47,687,998,026.24. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, major shareholder Alice L. Walton sold 2,375,563 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.96, for a total transaction of $182,823,328.48. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 619,646,544 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $47,687,998,026.24. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO C Douglas Mcmillon sold 29,124 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.64, for a total value of $2,348,559.36. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,873,053 shares in the company, valued at $312,322,993.92. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 12,337,337 shares of company stock valued at $958,823,647 over the last 90 days. 45.58% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.