First Merchants Corp Sells 26,873 Shares of Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)

First Merchants Corp lowered its stake in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) by 11.7% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 202,142 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 26,873 shares during the period. First Merchants Corp’s holdings in Walmart were worth $18,264,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Creative Planning raised its holdings in shares of Walmart by 4.9% in the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 1,800,743 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $142,973,000 after purchasing an additional 83,376 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB grew its position in Walmart by 0.4% in the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 5,345,293 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $431,632,000 after purchasing an additional 18,644 shares in the last quarter. Buffington Mohr McNeal increased its stake in Walmart by 10.2% in the 3rd quarter. Buffington Mohr McNeal now owns 15,028 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,214,000 after buying an additional 1,396 shares during the last quarter. Greenup Street Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Walmart during the 3rd quarter worth about $237,000. Finally, Trifecta Capital Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Walmart by 4.3% during the 3rd quarter. Trifecta Capital Advisors LLC now owns 52,599 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $4,247,000 after buying an additional 2,149 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 26.76% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently issued reports on WMT shares. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on Walmart from $94.00 to $96.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Walmart from $100.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Truist Financial raised their target price on shares of Walmart from $98.00 to $111.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Piper Sandler upped their price target on shares of Walmart from $83.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on shares of Walmart from $80.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report 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 given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $99.17.

Walmart Stock Down 1.0 %

WMT stock opened at $104.04 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $835.78 billion, a PE ratio of 42.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.25 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 Inc. has a 52 week low of $55.99 and a 52 week high of $105.30. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $94.83 and a 200 day simple moving average of $85.09.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last issued 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. The company had revenue of $169.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $167.69 billion. Walmart had a net margin of 2.92% and a return on equity of 21.78%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.51 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Walmart Inc. will post 2.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP John D. Rainey sold 38,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $98.80, for a total transaction of $3,754,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 257,281 shares in the company, valued at $25,419,362.80. This represents a 12.87 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO C Douglas Mcmillon sold 29,124 shares of Walmart 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 3,814,805 shares in the company, valued at approximately $348,825,769.20. This represents a 0.76 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 175,177 shares of company stock worth $16,403,728 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.