Garden State Investment Advisory Services LLC Boosts Stake in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)

Garden State Investment Advisory Services LLC raised its holdings in shares of Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) by 15.9% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 7,644 shares of the retailer’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,047 shares during the quarter. Garden State Investment Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in Walmart were worth $518,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. AHL Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in Walmart by 192.1% in the 1st quarter. AHL Investment Management Inc. now owns 24,000 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,444,000 after buying an additional 15,785 shares during the period. Core Wealth Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Walmart by 38.9% in the fourth quarter. Core Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 1,501 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $237,000 after purchasing an additional 420 shares during the period. Liberty Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Walmart in the first quarter worth approximately $270,000. Commerce Bank raised its position in Walmart by 189.4% during the 1st quarter. Commerce Bank now owns 917,625 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $55,213,000 after purchasing an additional 600,521 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Walmart by 290.7% in the 1st quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 270,065 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $16,250,000 after buying an additional 200,947 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 26.76% of the company’s stock.

Walmart Stock Up 1.3 %

Walmart stock opened at $79.06 on Friday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $73.44 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $66.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a quick ratio of 0.22 and a current ratio of 0.80. The company has a market cap of $635.92 billion, a PE ratio of 33.79, a PEG ratio of 4.03 and a beta of 0.51. Walmart Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $49.85 and a fifty-two week high of $81.02.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 15th. The retailer reported $0.67 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.65 by $0.02. Walmart had a net margin of 2.34% and a return on equity of 21.72%. The company had revenue of $169.30 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $168.56 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.61 EPS. Walmart’s quarterly revenue was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts anticipate that Walmart Inc. will post 2.44 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Walmart

In other Walmart news, major shareholder S Robson Walton sold 4,057,369 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.20, for a total value of $313,228,886.80. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 611,988,318 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $47,245,498,149.60. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other Walmart news, major shareholder S Robson Walton sold 4,057,369 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.20, for a total value of $313,228,886.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 611,988,318 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $47,245,498,149.60. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Alice L. Walton sold 2,709,163 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.37, for a total transaction of $209,607,941.31. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 630,501,148 shares in the company, valued at approximately $48,781,873,820.76. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 12,369,039 shares of company stock worth $959,826,083 over the last 90 days. 45.58% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WMT has been the topic of several research reports. KeyCorp raised their price target on Walmart from $75.00 to $82.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Telsey Advisory Group raised their target price on shares of Walmart from $75.00 to $82.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, August 16th. Tigress Financial upped their price target on shares of Walmart from $75.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. HSBC boosted their price objective on shares of Walmart from $70.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 11th. Finally, StockNews.com raised Walmart from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 16th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Walmart has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $78.99.

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.