Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) Shares Sold by Nvest Financial LLC

Nvest Financial LLC trimmed its holdings in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) by 12.8% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 60,658 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 8,918 shares during the period. Walmart makes up approximately 2.8% of Nvest Financial LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 7th largest holding. Nvest Financial LLC’s holdings in Walmart were worth $5,480,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WMT. Peterson Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in Walmart during the third quarter worth $26,000. Voisard Asset Management Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Walmart by 77.3% during the 3rd quarter. Voisard Asset Management Group Inc. now owns 399 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 174 shares during the period. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Walmart in the fourth quarter valued at $32,000. Hoese & Co LLP acquired a new position in shares of Walmart during the 3rd quarter valued at about $33,000. Finally, Livelsberger Financial Advisory purchased a new position in Walmart during the third quarter worth approximately $36,000. 26.76% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Walmart Trading Up 1.1 %

Shares of WMT stock opened at $98.61 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.23, a current ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $92.71 and a 200 day simple moving average of $82.79. Walmart Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $55.04 and a fifty-two week high of $98.93. The stock has a market capitalization of $792.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.47, a P/E/G ratio of 4.42 and a beta of 0.55.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, November 19th. The retailer reported $0.58 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.05. Walmart had a net margin of 2.92% and a return on equity of 21.78%. The business had revenue of $169.59 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $167.69 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.51 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Walmart Inc. will post 2.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WMT has been the topic of several research analyst reports. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Walmart from $92.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on Walmart from $83.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, November 18th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of Walmart from $80.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, November 18th. Truist Financial raised their price objective on shares of Walmart from $89.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. Finally, DZ Bank lowered shares of Walmart from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $91.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Walmart currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $94.69.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Robert Edward Jr. Moritz acquired 5,446 shares of Walmart stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 27th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $91.81 per share, with a total value of $499,997.26. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 7,805 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $716,577.05. This represents a 230.86 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO C Douglas Mcmillon sold 29,124 shares of Walmart stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $91.44, for a total transaction of $2,663,098.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,814,805 shares in the company, valued at approximately $348,825,769.20. This trade represents a 0.76 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 137,177 shares of company stock valued at $12,649,328 over the last three months. Insiders own 45.58% of the company’s stock.

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.