Great Lakes Retirement Inc. Has $1.81 Million Stake in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)

Great Lakes Retirement Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) by 5.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 19,960 shares of the retailer’s stock after buying an additional 952 shares during the quarter. Great Lakes Retirement Inc.’s holdings in Walmart were worth $1,807,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in Walmart during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Peterson Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in Walmart during the third quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. acquired a new position in Walmart during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Voisard Asset Management Group Inc. grew its holdings in Walmart by 77.3% during the third quarter. Voisard Asset Management Group Inc. now owns 399 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 174 shares during the period. Finally, Livelsberger Financial Advisory acquired a new position in Walmart during the third quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 26.76% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO C Douglas Mcmillon sold 29,124 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $91.44, for a total value of $2,663,098.56. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,814,805 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $348,825,769.20. This represents a 0.76 % 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 link. Also, EVP Daniel J. Bartlett sold 1,830 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $91.07, for a total transaction of $166,658.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly 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 valued at $16,403,728 over the last ninety days. 45.58% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Tigress Financial lifted their price target on shares of Walmart from $86.00 to $115.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Barclays lifted their price target 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. TD Cowen lifted their price target on shares of Walmart from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. Guggenheim lifted their price target on shares of Walmart from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. Finally, Piper Sandler lifted their price target on shares of Walmart from $83.00 to $93.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, November 18th. 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’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $98.56.

Walmart Price Performance

Shares of WMT opened at $103.62 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $832.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.53, a PEG ratio of 4.25 and a beta of 0.55. Walmart Inc. has a 1-year low of $55.85 and a 1-year high of $103.90. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $94.45 and its 200 day simple moving average is $84.82. The company has a current ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 0.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 19th. The retailer reported $0.58 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 net margin of 2.92% and a return on equity of 21.78%. The company’s revenue was up 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.51 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Walmart Inc. will post 2.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.