Lighthouse Wealth Management Inc. Purchases New Stake in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)

Lighthouse Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor acquired 2,464 shares of the retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $223,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of WMT. Brophy Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Walmart during the third quarter valued at approximately $2,072,000. Bank of New Hampshire increased its stake in shares of Walmart by 13.7% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New Hampshire now owns 47,949 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $4,332,000 after acquiring an additional 5,786 shares during the last quarter. Iowa State Bank raised its holdings in shares of Walmart by 213.8% during the fourth quarter. Iowa State Bank now owns 26,807 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $2,422,000 after acquiring an additional 18,263 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its position in Walmart by 4.6% during the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 47,659,844 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $3,848,533,000 after purchasing an additional 2,107,197 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Virtu Financial LLC purchased a new position in Walmart in the third quarter valued at about $541,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 26.76% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on WMT. DZ Bank lowered Walmart from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $91.00 price target for the company. in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price target on shares of Walmart from $98.00 to $102.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Walmart from $90.00 to $98.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 9th. Evercore ISI increased their target price on shares of Walmart from $94.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Walmart from $100.00 to $106.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $94.69.

Walmart Stock Performance

Shares of WMT opened at $97.36 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $782.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.96, a PEG ratio of 4.42 and a beta of 0.55. The company has a current ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 0.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $92.29 and a 200 day simple moving average of $82.49. Walmart Inc. has a 12 month low of $54.51 and a 12 month high of $97.84.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, November 19th. The retailer reported $0.58 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $169.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $167.69 billion. Walmart had a return on equity of 21.78% and a net margin of 2.92%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.51 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Walmart Inc. will post 2.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Walmart

In other news, EVP John R. Furner sold 13,125 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $92.00, for a total transaction of $1,207,500.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 579,915 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $53,352,180. This trade represents a 2.21 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO C Douglas Mcmillon sold 29,124 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $92.62, for a total value of $2,697,464.88. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 3,766,491 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $348,852,396.42. This trade represents a 0.77 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 140,177 shares of company stock valued at $12,895,688. 45.58% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.