Waters Parkerson & CO. LLC Has $10.24 Million Position in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)

Waters Parkerson & CO. LLC cut its position in shares of Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) by 5.6% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 151,167 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 9,000 shares during the quarter. Waters Parkerson & CO. LLC’s holdings in Walmart were worth $10,236,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. EntryPoint Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Walmart during the first quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Northwest Capital Management Inc boosted its stake in Walmart by 199.3% during the first quarter. Northwest Capital Management Inc now owns 440 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 293 shares in the last quarter. TruNorth Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Walmart by 138.3% in the 2nd quarter. TruNorth Capital Management LLC now owns 429 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 249 shares during the period. Cultivar Capital Inc. bought a new position in shares of Walmart during the 2nd quarter worth about $29,000. Finally, Able Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Walmart during the 4th quarter valued at about $30,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 26.76% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP John D. Rainey sold 25,578 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $67.58, for a total value of $1,728,561.24. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 390,165 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,367,350.70. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, EVP John D. Rainey sold 25,578 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $67.58, for a total transaction of $1,728,561.24. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 390,165 shares in the company, valued at $26,367,350.70. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder S Robson Walton sold 359,616 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $78.25, for a total transaction of $28,139,952.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 603,989,702 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $47,262,194,181.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 12,369,039 shares of company stock worth $959,826,083. Insiders own 45.58% of the company’s stock.

Walmart Trading Down 1.2 %

WMT opened at $78.05 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $73.24 and a 200 day simple moving average of $66.65. Walmart Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $49.85 and a fifty-two week high of $81.02. The company has a market cap of $627.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.03 and a beta of 0.51. 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 (NYSE:WMT) last issued its 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 company had revenue of $169.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $168.56 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.61 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Walmart Inc. will post 2.44 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently issued reports on WMT. Telsey Advisory Group increased their price target on shares of Walmart from $75.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, August 16th. StockNews.com raised Walmart from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 16th. KeyCorp increased their price objective on Walmart from $75.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of Walmart from $75.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 16th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their target price on shares of Walmart from $77.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 16th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $78.99.

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.