Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) Shares Bought by Lowe Wealth Advisors LLC

Lowe Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) by 22.5% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 897 shares of the retailer’s stock after acquiring an additional 165 shares during the quarter. Lowe Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Walmart were worth $72,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Trust Co of the South lifted its stake in shares of Walmart by 0.5% during the third quarter. Trust Co of the South now owns 25,647 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $2,071,000 after buying an additional 138 shares during the period. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV lifted its stake in shares of Walmart by 1.8% during the third quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 405,463 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $32,741,000 after buying an additional 6,995 shares during the period. Trust Co. of Toledo NA OH lifted its stake in shares of Walmart by 2.7% during the third quarter. Trust Co. of Toledo NA OH now owns 24,935 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $2,014,000 after buying an additional 650 shares during the period. Abacus Planning Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Walmart by 3.2% during the third quarter. Abacus Planning Group Inc. now owns 16,456 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,329,000 after buying an additional 507 shares during the period. Finally, Waller Financial Planning Group Inc. purchased a new stake in Walmart in the third quarter valued at $226,000. 26.76% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Walmart

In other Walmart news, major shareholder Alice L. Walton sold 2,709,163 shares of the company’s 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 630,501,148 shares in the company, valued at $48,781,873,820.76. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, major shareholder Alice L. Walton sold 2,709,163 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were 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 owns 630,501,148 shares in the company, valued at $48,781,873,820.76. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Daniel J. Bartlett sold 2,398 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.50, for a total transaction of $166,661.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 463,871 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $32,239,034.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 12,334,670 shares of company stock worth $958,025,027 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 45.58% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WMT has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Redburn Atlantic upgraded Walmart to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. KeyCorp lifted their price objective on Walmart from $75.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Truist Financial upgraded Walmart from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $76.00 to $89.00 in a report on Tuesday, September 24th. Melius Research started coverage on shares of Walmart in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. They set a “buy” rating and a $95.00 price target on the stock. Finally, TD Cowen lifted their price target on shares of Walmart from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 16th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-eight have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Walmart presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $81.62.

Walmart Stock Performance

NYSE WMT opened at $80.44 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.22. Walmart Inc. has a 1 year low of $49.85 and a 1 year high of $81.60. The company has a market capitalization of $647.02 billion, a PE ratio of 34.38, a P/E/G ratio of 4.00 and a beta of 0.51. The company has a fifty day moving average of $75.05 and a two-hundred day moving average of $67.94.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last released 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. Walmart had a net margin of 2.34% and a return on equity of 21.72%. The company had revenue of $169.30 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $168.56 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.61 earnings per share. Walmart’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Walmart Inc. will post 2.44 earnings per share for the current year.

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.