Abacus Planning Group Inc. Has $1.55 Million Stock Position in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)

Abacus Planning Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) by 4.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 17,116 shares of the retailer’s stock after buying an additional 660 shares during the period. Abacus Planning Group Inc.’s holdings in Walmart were worth $1,546,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of WMT. Jennison Associates LLC raised its holdings in shares of Walmart by 479.6% in the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 18,479,259 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,492,200,000 after purchasing an additional 15,290,936 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC increased 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 buying an additional 7,200,004 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in Walmart by 8,814.4% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 6,963,218 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $562,280,000 after buying an additional 6,885,106 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Walmart by 3.3% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 87,617,409 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $7,048,465,000 after buying an additional 2,786,061 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in Walmart by 4.6% during the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 47,659,844 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $3,848,533,000 after buying an additional 2,107,197 shares during the last quarter. 26.76% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have commented on WMT shares. Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of Walmart from $95.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Walmart from $98.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on shares of Walmart from $100.00 to $115.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday. DZ Bank cut shares of Walmart from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $91.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Finally, Tigress Financial boosted their target price on shares of Walmart from $86.00 to $115.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Walmart has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $101.87.

Insider Activity at Walmart

In related news, Director Robert Edward Jr. Moritz bought 5,446 shares of Walmart stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 27th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $91.81 per share, for a total transaction of $499,997.26. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 7,805 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $716,577.05. The trade was a 230.86 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Daniel J. Bartlett sold 1,830 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $91.07, for a total value of $166,658.10. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 460,705 shares in the company, valued at $41,956,404.35. The trade was a 0.40 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 175,177 shares of company stock worth $16,403,728 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 45.58% of the company’s stock.

Walmart Stock Performance

Walmart stock opened at $103.90 on Thursday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $95.56 and a 200-day moving average of $86.17. Walmart Inc. has a 1 year low of $57.60 and a 1 year high of $105.30. The company has a market capitalization of $834.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.64, a P/E/G ratio of 4.39 and a beta of 0.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42, a current ratio of 0.85 and a quick ratio of 0.23.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, November 19th. The retailer reported $0.58 EPS 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 business had revenue of $169.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $167.69 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.51 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts predict that Walmart Inc. will post 2.48 earnings per share for the current year.

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.