Trust Co of the South Purchases 138 Shares of Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)

Trust Co of the South raised its stake in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) by 0.5% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 25,647 shares of the retailer’s stock after acquiring an additional 138 shares during the quarter. Walmart makes up approximately 0.4% of Trust Co of the South’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 28th largest position. Trust Co of the South’s holdings in Walmart were worth $2,071,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Walmart by 199.4% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 411,745,334 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $24,774,717,000 after acquiring an additional 274,229,968 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its stake in 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 worth $3,421,342,000 after buying an additional 36,625,314 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc raised its position in shares of Walmart by 1.8% during the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 36,282,740 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $2,456,704,000 after purchasing an additional 644,353 shares during the period. Raymond James & Associates raised its holdings in Walmart by 16.0% during the second quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 16,282,129 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,102,463,000 after buying an additional 2,246,656 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of Walmart by 5.4% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 16,184,945 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,095,946,000 after buying an additional 834,005 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 26.76% of the company’s stock.

Walmart Stock Performance

Shares of WMT opened at $80.44 on Thursday. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $75.05 and its 200-day moving average price is $67.94. The stock has a market cap of $647.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.38, a P/E/G ratio of 4.00 and a beta of 0.51. Walmart Inc. has a 52 week low of $49.85 and a 52 week high of $81.60. The company has a quick ratio of 0.22, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46.

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently commented on WMT. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on Walmart from $82.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday. Telsey Advisory Group upped their price objective on shares of Walmart from $75.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, August 16th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on shares of Walmart from $74.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, August 16th. KeyCorp upped their target price on Walmart from $75.00 to $82.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Finally, Truist Financial raised Walmart from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the company from $76.00 to $89.00 in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $81.62.

Insider Buying and Selling at Walmart

In other Walmart news, EVP John R. Furner sold 13,125 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.04, for a total transaction of $1,063,650.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 606,165 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $49,123,611.60. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, EVP John R. Furner sold 13,125 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.04, for a total transaction of $1,063,650.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 606,165 shares in the company, valued at approximately $49,123,611.60. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, 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 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. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 12,334,670 shares of company stock valued at $958,025,027. 45.58% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

About Walmart

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.