Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) Stock Holdings Increased by Adero Partners LLC

Adero Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) by 8.7% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 8,518 shares of the retailer’s stock after buying an additional 684 shares during the quarter. Adero Partners LLC’s holdings in Walmart were worth $770,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Peterson Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Walmart during the 3rd quarter valued at about $26,000. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Walmart during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Voisard Asset Management Group Inc. lifted its stake in Walmart by 77.3% in the third quarter. Voisard Asset Management Group Inc. now owns 399 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 174 shares during the last quarter. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. bought a new stake in Walmart in the fourth quarter worth approximately $32,000. Finally, Hoese & Co LLP acquired a new position in shares of Walmart during the 3rd quarter worth $33,000. 26.76% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Walmart Stock Performance

NYSE WMT opened at $101.17 on Friday. Walmart Inc. has a twelve month low of $55.85 and a twelve month high of $103.11. The company has a quick ratio of 0.23, a current ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42. The stock has a market cap of $812.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.52, a PEG ratio of 4.49 and a beta of 0.55. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $93.89 and its 200 day simple moving average is $83.95.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 19th. The retailer reported $0.58 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.53 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $169.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $167.69 billion. Walmart had a return on equity of 21.78% and a net margin of 2.92%. The company’s revenue was up 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.51 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Walmart Inc. will post 2.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP David Chojnowski sold 5,600 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $91.45, for a total value of $512,120.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 87,404 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $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 through the SEC website. Also, CEO C Douglas Mcmillon sold 29,124 shares of Walmart stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 27th. The shares were 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 directly owns 3,814,805 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $348,825,769.20. This represents a 0.76 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 175,177 shares of company stock worth $16,403,728 over the last three months. 45.58% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on WMT shares. Guggenheim lifted their price objective on shares of Walmart from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $105.00 price objective on shares of Walmart in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on Walmart from $89.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Bank of America upped their target price on Walmart from $95.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Walmart from $100.00 to $113.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Walmart has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $96.01.

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.