Hudson Valley Investment Advisors Inc. ADV Decreases Stock Position in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)

Hudson Valley Investment Advisors Inc. ADV decreased its stake in shares of Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) by 3.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 39,100 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 1,409 shares during the quarter. Hudson Valley Investment Advisors Inc. ADV’s holdings in Walmart were worth $3,533,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of 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 period. FMR LLC lifted its stake in Walmart by 12.9% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 63,135,639 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $5,098,203,000 after acquiring an additional 7,200,004 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in Walmart by 4.6% during the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 47,659,844 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $3,848,533,000 after acquiring an additional 2,107,197 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its position in shares of Walmart by 3.7% in the 3rd 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 last quarter. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc raised its holdings in shares of 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. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 26.76% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other Walmart news, EVP Daniel J. Bartlett sold 2,065 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.69, for a total value of $166,624.85. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 457,493 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $36,915,110.17. This trade represents a 0.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Robert Edward Jr. Moritz purchased 5,446 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 27th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $91.81 per share, for a total transaction of $499,997.26. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 7,805 shares in the company, valued at approximately $716,577.05. This represents a 230.86 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders sold 140,412 shares of company stock worth $12,478,116 in the last 90 days. 45.58% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Walmart Trading Up 0.9 %

NYSE WMT opened at $91.65 on Friday. Walmart Inc. has a 52-week low of $52.58 and a 52-week high of $96.18. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $90.16 and a 200 day moving average price of $80.29. The stock has a market capitalization of $736.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.61, a P/E/G ratio of 4.47 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 posted its quarterly 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $167.69 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.51 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that Walmart Inc. will post 2.47 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently commented on WMT shares. Melius Research assumed coverage on shares of Walmart in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. They set a “buy” rating and a $95.00 target price for the company. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Walmart from $90.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. Truist Financial raised their target price on Walmart from $89.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. Oppenheimer upped their price target on Walmart from $81.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, October 14th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on shares of Walmart from $105.00 to $111.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Walmart presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $93.95.

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.