Signature Estate & Investment Advisors LLC Boosts Stake in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)

Signature Estate & Investment Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) by 0.3% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 849,801 shares of the retailer’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,926 shares during the period. Walmart makes up about 1.6% of Signature Estate & Investment Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 11th largest holding. Signature Estate & Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Walmart were worth $68,621,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of WMT. WFA Asset Management Corp lifted its stake in Walmart by 201.0% in the 1st quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 2,092 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $126,000 after buying an additional 1,397 shares in the last quarter. Dupont Capital Management Corp lifted its position in shares of Walmart by 165.4% in the first quarter. Dupont Capital Management Corp now owns 270,147 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $16,255,000 after acquiring an additional 168,346 shares in the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its stake in shares of Walmart by 307.1% in the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 160,292 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $9,645,000 after acquiring an additional 120,919 shares during the last quarter. US Bancorp DE increased its position in shares of Walmart by 192.5% during the first quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 6,503,173 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $391,296,000 after purchasing an additional 4,279,615 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Avantax Advisory Services Inc. raised its stake in Walmart by 244.0% in the 1st quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. now owns 476,280 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $28,658,000 after purchasing an additional 337,845 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 26.76% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have issued reports on WMT. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on shares of Walmart from $82.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Walmart from $66.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 16th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on shares of Walmart from $71.00 to $73.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 13th. Telsey Advisory Group restated an “outperform” rating and set a $92.00 target price on shares of Walmart in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein assumed coverage on Walmart in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $95.00 price target for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $84.84.

Walmart Trading Down 1.2 %

Shares of NYSE WMT opened at $84.47 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46. The stock has a market capitalization of $678.99 billion, a PE ratio of 43.92, a PEG ratio of 4.27 and a beta of 0.51. Walmart Inc. has a twelve month low of $49.85 and a twelve month high of $85.79. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $80.99 and a 200-day simple moving average of $72.53.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last released its earnings results on Thursday, August 15th. The retailer reported $0.67 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.65 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $169.30 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $168.56 billion. Walmart had a return on equity of 21.72% and a net margin of 2.34%. Walmart’s revenue was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.61 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Walmart Inc. will post 2.44 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Walmart

In other Walmart news, major shareholder Alice L. Walton sold 2,709,163 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.37, for a total transaction of $209,607,941.31. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 630,501,148 shares in the company, valued at $48,781,873,820.76. The trade was a 0.43 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, major shareholder S Robson Walton sold 4,057,369 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.20, for a total transaction of $313,228,886.80. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 611,988,318 shares in the company, valued at approximately $47,245,498,149.60. This represents a 0.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 12,337,337 shares of company stock valued at $958,823,647. 45.58% of the stock is currently owned by company 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.