Milestone Asset Management LLC Buys 9,491 Shares of Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)

Milestone Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) by 80.4% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 21,289 shares of the retailer’s stock after acquiring an additional 9,491 shares during the period. Milestone Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Walmart were worth $1,924,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. TLW Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Walmart by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. TLW Wealth Management LLC now owns 159,377 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $14,400,000 after purchasing an additional 492 shares during the period. Hanson & Doremus Investment Management lifted its stake in shares of Walmart by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Hanson & Doremus Investment Management now owns 12,609 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,139,000 after buying an additional 120 shares in the last quarter. Ibex Wealth Advisors bought a new position in Walmart in the 4th quarter worth $699,000. Invesco LLC increased its stake in Walmart by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Invesco LLC now owns 10,950 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $989,000 after buying an additional 124 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Strategic Blueprint LLC raised its holdings in Walmart by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Strategic Blueprint LLC now owns 100,167 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $9,050,000 after acquiring an additional 615 shares during the period. 26.76% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Walmart

In other news, Director Robert Edward Jr. Moritz acquired 5,446 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 27th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $91.81 per share, for a total transaction of $499,997.26. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 7,805 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $716,577.05. The trade was a 230.86 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO C Douglas Mcmillon sold 29,124 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $91.44, for a total transaction of $2,663,098.56. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 3,814,805 shares in the company, valued at approximately $348,825,769.20. The trade was a 0.76 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 137,177 shares of company stock worth $12,649,328. Company insiders own 45.58% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WMT has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. KeyCorp upped their price objective on Walmart from $96.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on shares of Walmart from $94.00 to $96.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Walmart from $96.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 10th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Walmart from $100.00 to $106.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, Telsey Advisory Group boosted their price target on shares of Walmart from $92.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Two 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. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Walmart currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $95.11.

Walmart Stock Down 0.7 %

NYSE:WMT opened at $97.97 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $787.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.46 and a beta of 0.55. Walmart Inc. has a twelve month low of $55.04 and a twelve month high of $99.00. The company has a current ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 0.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $92.91 and a 200-day simple moving average of $82.90.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 19th. The retailer reported $0.58 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $169.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $167.69 billion. Walmart had a net margin of 2.92% and a return on equity of 21.78%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.51 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Walmart Inc. will post 2.48 EPS for the current year.

Walmart Company 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.