Cetera Investment Advisers Increases Stock Position in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)

Cetera Investment Advisers grew its position in shares of Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) by 0.6% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 1,692,435 shares of the retailer’s stock after purchasing an additional 9,594 shares during the quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers’ holdings in Walmart were worth $114,595,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in WMT. AHL Investment Management Inc. grew its position in Walmart by 192.1% during the 1st quarter. AHL Investment Management Inc. now owns 24,000 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,444,000 after purchasing an additional 15,785 shares during the last quarter. Core Wealth Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Walmart by 38.9% during the fourth quarter. Core Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 1,501 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $237,000 after buying an additional 420 shares during the last quarter. Liberty Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Walmart in the 1st quarter valued at about $270,000. Commerce Bank raised its stake 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 acquiring an additional 600,521 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. lifted its position in Walmart by 290.7% during the 1st quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 270,065 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $16,250,000 after acquiring an additional 200,947 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 26.76% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on WMT shares. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Walmart from $75.00 to $82.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, August 16th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Walmart from $81.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. Tigress Financial raised their price objective on shares of Walmart from $75.00 to $86.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Walmart from $81.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 16th. Finally, StockNews.com raised Walmart from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 16th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-eight have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $81.62.

Walmart Price Performance

NYSE:WMT opened at $80.75 on Tuesday. Walmart Inc. has a 12-month low of $49.85 and a 12-month high of $81.60. The firm has a market cap of $649.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.00 and a beta of 0.51. The company’s 50-day moving average is $74.64 and its two-hundred day moving average is $67.71. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46.

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

Insider Transactions at Walmart

In related news, major shareholder S Robson Walton sold 4,057,369 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.20, for a total transaction of $313,228,886.80. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 611,988,318 shares in the company, valued at $47,245,498,149.60. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other news, major shareholder Alice L. Walton sold 2,709,163 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 630,501,148 shares in the company, valued at approximately $48,781,873,820.76. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, major shareholder S Robson Walton sold 4,057,369 shares of Walmart 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 611,988,318 shares in the company, valued at approximately $47,245,498,149.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 12,334,670 shares of company stock worth $958,025,027 over the last quarter. 45.58% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Walmart Company 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.