William B. Walkup & Associates Inc. Acquires New Stake in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)

William B. Walkup & Associates Inc. acquired a new stake in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 71,070 shares of the retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $4,812,000. Walmart accounts for 3.2% of William B. Walkup & Associates Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 7th largest position.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Aveo Capital Partners LLC boosted its position in Walmart by 4.8% during the fourth quarter. Aveo Capital Partners LLC now owns 4,330 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $683,000 after acquiring an additional 197 shares during the last quarter. 9258 Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in Walmart by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. 9258 Wealth Management LLC now owns 12,972 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $2,045,000 after acquiring an additional 235 shares during the last quarter. TFG Advisers LLC boosted its position in Walmart by 5.1% during the fourth quarter. TFG Advisers LLC now owns 2,791 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $440,000 after acquiring an additional 136 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV boosted its position in Walmart by 32.0% during the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 357,367 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $56,338,000 after acquiring an additional 86,634 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jones Financial Companies Lllp boosted its position in Walmart by 3.7% during the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 13,185 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $2,079,000 after acquiring an additional 474 shares during the last quarter. 26.76% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Walmart

In other news, EVP Daniel J. Bartlett sold 2,398 shares of Walmart stock in a transaction on Monday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.50, for a total transaction of $166,661.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 463,871 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $32,239,034.50. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, EVP John D. Rainey sold 3,000 shares of Walmart stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.19, for a total transaction of $207,570.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 387,165 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,787,946.35. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Daniel J. Bartlett sold 2,398 shares of Walmart stock in a transaction on Monday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.50, for a total transaction of $166,661.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 463,871 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $32,239,034.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 12,292,421 shares of company stock valued at $954,612,818 in the last three months. Company insiders own 45.58% of the company’s stock.

Walmart Stock Down 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE:WMT opened at $79.78 on Monday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $74.44 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $67.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.22. Walmart Inc. has a one year low of $49.85 and a one year high of $81.60. The company has a market cap of $641.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.14, a PEG ratio of 4.00 and a beta of 0.51.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 15th. The retailer reported $0.67 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.65 by $0.02. Walmart had a net margin of 2.34% and a return on equity of 21.72%. The firm had revenue of $169.30 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $168.56 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.61 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Walmart Inc. will post 2.44 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on WMT. StockNews.com raised shares of Walmart from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 16th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on shares of Walmart from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. Tigress Financial increased their price objective on shares of Walmart from $75.00 to $86.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $83.00 price objective (up previously from $81.00) on shares of Walmart in a research note on Friday, August 16th. Finally, Redburn Atlantic upgraded shares of Walmart to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. One investment 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.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $80.96.

About Walmart

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.