Next Capital Management LLC Reduces Position in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)

Next Capital Management LLC lowered its holdings in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) by 1.6% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 22,396 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 374 shares during the period. Next Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Walmart were worth $1,516,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of WMT. AHL Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Walmart by 192.1% in the first quarter. AHL Investment Management Inc. now owns 24,000 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,444,000 after buying an additional 15,785 shares during the last quarter. Core Wealth Advisors Inc. lifted its position 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 purchasing an additional 420 shares during the last quarter. Liberty Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Walmart in the first quarter worth about $270,000. Commerce Bank increased its holdings in Walmart by 189.4% in the first quarter. Commerce Bank now owns 917,625 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $55,213,000 after buying an additional 600,521 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. raised its stake in Walmart by 290.7% during the first quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 270,065 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $16,250,000 after buying an additional 200,947 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 26.76% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Walmart

In other Walmart news, major shareholder S Robson Walton sold 359,616 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $78.25, for a total transaction of $28,139,952.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 603,989,702 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $47,262,194,181.50. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other news, major shareholder S Robson Walton sold 359,616 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $78.25, for a total value of $28,139,952.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 603,989,702 shares in the company, valued at $47,262,194,181.50. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Alice L. Walton sold 2,709,163 shares of Walmart stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.37, for a total value of $209,607,941.31. Following the transaction, the insider now 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 sold 12,292,421 shares of company stock worth $954,612,818 in the last quarter. 45.58% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on WMT. Redburn Atlantic upgraded Walmart to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, September 23rd. Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $83.00 target price (up previously from $81.00) on shares of Walmart in a research note on Friday, August 16th. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on shares of Walmart from $82.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $80.00 price objective on shares of Walmart in a research report on Friday, August 16th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their target price on Walmart from $75.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-eight have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $81.62.

Walmart Price Performance

Shares of NYSE WMT opened at $79.78 on Monday. Walmart Inc. has a twelve month low of $49.85 and a twelve month high of $81.60. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $74.44 and a two-hundred day moving average of $67.57. The company has a market capitalization of $641.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.14, a PEG ratio of 4.00 and a beta of 0.51.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, August 15th. The retailer reported $0.67 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.65 by $0.02. Walmart had a net margin of 2.34% and a return on equity of 21.72%. The firm had revenue of $169.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $168.56 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.61 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that Walmart Inc. will post 2.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.