Contravisory Investment Management Inc. Trims Stock Position in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)

Contravisory Investment Management Inc. cut its position in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) by 10.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 6,295 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 699 shares during the quarter. Contravisory Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Walmart were worth $569,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Walmart by 3.3% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 87,617,409 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $7,048,465,000 after acquiring an additional 2,786,061 shares during the period. FMR LLC raised its holdings in Walmart by 12.9% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 63,135,639 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $5,098,203,000 after purchasing an additional 7,200,004 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its position in Walmart by 4.6% in the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 47,659,844 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $3,848,533,000 after purchasing an additional 2,107,197 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its position in Walmart by 3.7% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 41,501,782 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $3,392,658,000 after purchasing an additional 1,480,927 shares during the period. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc boosted its holdings in Walmart by 1.8% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 36,282,740 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $2,456,704,000 after purchasing an additional 644,353 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 26.76% of the company’s stock.

Walmart Trading Down 0.0 %

Walmart stock opened at $91.33 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $90.86 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $81.03. Walmart Inc. has a 52-week low of $53.44 and a 52-week high of $96.18. The firm has a market capitalization of $733.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.48, a PEG ratio of 4.41 and a beta of 0.55. The company has a quick ratio of 0.23, a current ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last announced its earnings results 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. Walmart had a return on equity of 21.78% and a net margin of 2.92%. The firm had revenue of $169.59 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $167.69 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.51 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Walmart Inc. will post 2.47 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the company. Citigroup raised their target price on Walmart from $75.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Tigress Financial boosted their price objective on shares of Walmart from $86.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. TD Cowen upped their target price on shares of Walmart from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Walmart from $90.00 to $98.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 9th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price target on Walmart from $92.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock 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 assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $94.49.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP John R. Furner sold 13,125 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $82.96, for a total transaction of $1,088,850.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 593,040 shares in the company, valued at $49,198,598.40. The trade was a 2.17 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, SVP David Chojnowski sold 5,600 shares of Walmart 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 138,347 shares of company stock valued at $12,311,491. 45.58% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.