Centaurus Financial Inc. Increases Stake in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)

Centaurus Financial Inc. boosted its position in shares of Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) by 43.7% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 51,567 shares of the retailer’s stock after acquiring an additional 15,681 shares during the quarter. Centaurus Financial Inc.’s holdings in Walmart were worth $4,164,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of WMT. WFA Asset Management Corp boosted its stake in shares of Walmart by 201.0% during the 1st quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 2,092 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $126,000 after acquiring an additional 1,397 shares in the last quarter. Dupont Capital Management Corp increased its stake in Walmart by 165.4% during the 1st quarter. Dupont Capital Management Corp now owns 270,147 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $16,255,000 after buying an additional 168,346 shares in the last quarter. EntryPoint Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Walmart during the first quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Walmart by 168.9% in the first quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. now owns 1,531,461 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $92,148,000 after acquiring an additional 961,936 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Lazard Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Walmart by 500.4% in the first quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 425,387 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $25,595,000 after acquiring an additional 354,535 shares during the last quarter. 26.76% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WMT has been the topic of a number of research reports. Telsey Advisory Group raised their price objective on Walmart from $92.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Walmart from $89.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on shares of Walmart from $81.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, October 14th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on Walmart from $85.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on Walmart from $80.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, November 18th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $91.88.

Walmart Trading Up 2.3 %

Shares of WMT stock opened at $90.44 on Friday. Walmart Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $49.85 and a fifty-two week high of $90.91. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $82.12 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $73.84. The stock has a market cap of $726.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.30 and a beta of 0.51. The company has a quick ratio of 0.22, a current ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 19th. The retailer reported $0.58 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.05. Walmart had a net margin of 2.92% and a return on equity of 21.78%. The firm had revenue of $169.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $167.69 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.51 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts anticipate that Walmart Inc. will post 2.47 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Walmart news, major shareholder Alice L. Walton sold 2,375,563 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the insider now owns 619,646,544 shares in the company, valued at $47,687,998,026.24. The trade was a 0.38 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP John D. Rainey sold 3,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $82.12, for a total transaction of $246,360.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 378,165 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $31,054,909.80. The trade was a 0.79 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 12,337,337 shares of company stock worth $958,823,647 in the last 90 days. 45.58% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.