Avity Investment Management Inc. Lowers Stake in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)

Avity Investment Management Inc. lessened its holdings in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) by 4.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 6,568 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 325 shares during the quarter. Avity Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Walmart were worth $593,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in WMT. Peterson Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Walmart in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $26,000. Voisard Asset Management Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Walmart by 77.3% in the third quarter. Voisard Asset Management Group Inc. now owns 399 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 174 shares in the last quarter. Hoese & Co LLP purchased a new stake in shares of Walmart in the third quarter worth $33,000. Livelsberger Financial Advisory bought a new position in shares of Walmart during the third quarter valued at $36,000. Finally, Hara Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Walmart in the 3rd quarter worth about $37,000. Institutional investors own 26.76% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently commented on WMT shares. KeyCorp increased their price objective on shares of Walmart from $96.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Roth Mkm increased their price target on shares of Walmart from $81.00 to $97.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. Guggenheim boosted their price objective on shares of Walmart from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on Walmart from $80.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, November 18th. Finally, StockNews.com cut Walmart from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Walmart currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $94.49.

Walmart Trading Up 0.7 %

Shares of Walmart stock opened at $91.39 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42, a quick ratio of 0.23 and a current ratio of 0.85. The company has a fifty day moving average of $90.70 and a 200 day moving average of $80.96. The company has a market capitalization of $734.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.51, a P/E/G ratio of 4.41 and a beta of 0.55. Walmart Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $53.44 and a fifty-two week high of $96.18.

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

Insider Activity

In other Walmart news, SVP David Chojnowski sold 5,600 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $91.45, for a total transaction of $512,120.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 87,404 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,993,095.80. This represents a 6.02 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO C Douglas Mcmillon sold 29,124 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $82.79, for a total value of $2,411,175.96. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 3,843,929 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $318,238,881.91. The trade was a 0.75 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 138,347 shares of company stock worth $12,311,491 over the last quarter. Insiders own 45.58% of the company’s stock.

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.