Brighton Jones LLC Acquires 5,008 Shares of Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)

Brighton Jones LLC increased its holdings in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) by 6.7% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 80,261 shares of the retailer’s stock after acquiring an additional 5,008 shares during the quarter. Brighton Jones LLC’s holdings in Walmart were worth $5,434,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Walmart by 199.4% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 411,745,334 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $24,774,717,000 after purchasing an additional 274,229,968 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its holdings in shares of Walmart by 181.0% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 56,861,234 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $3,421,342,000 after acquiring an additional 36,625,314 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Walmart by 183.0% during the 1st quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 29,172,985 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,755,339,000 after acquiring an additional 18,865,484 shares during the last quarter. Swiss National Bank boosted its holdings in shares of Walmart by 187.4% during the 1st quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 13,303,200 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $800,454,000 after acquiring an additional 8,674,100 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board boosted its holdings in shares of Walmart by 284.0% during the 1st quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 11,122,273 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $669,227,000 after acquiring an additional 8,225,552 shares during the last quarter. 26.76% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Walmart Trading Down 1.2 %

Shares of WMT opened at $78.05 on Friday. 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’s fifty day moving average is $73.24 and its 200 day moving average is $66.65. The stock has a market capitalization of $627.80 billion, a PE ratio of 33.35, a P/E/G 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 posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 15th. The retailer reported $0.67 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.65 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $169.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $168.56 billion. Walmart had a net margin of 2.34% and a return on equity of 21.72%. Walmart’s quarterly revenue was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.61 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Walmart Inc. will post 2.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP David Chojnowski sold 8,791 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.00, for a total transaction of $597,788.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 94,415 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,420,220. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, SVP David Chojnowski sold 8,791 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.00, for a total transaction of $597,788.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 94,415 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,420,220. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP John D. Rainey sold 25,578 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $67.58, for a total transaction of $1,728,561.24. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 390,165 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,367,350.70. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 12,369,039 shares of company stock valued at $959,826,083 over the last three months. 45.58% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on WMT. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Walmart from $66.00 to $78.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, August 16th. Evercore ISI raised their price target on shares of Walmart from $78.00 to $80.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, August 22nd. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $83.00 price target (up previously from $81.00) on shares of Walmart in a report on Friday, August 16th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on shares of Walmart from $74.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, August 16th. Finally, Telsey Advisory Group raised their target price on shares of Walmart from $75.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, August 16th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently 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.