Equitable Trust Co. Raises Stake in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)

Equitable Trust Co. boosted its holdings in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) by 8.4% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 67,528 shares of the retailer’s stock after acquiring an additional 5,250 shares during the quarter. Equitable Trust Co.’s holdings in Walmart were worth $6,101,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Brophy Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Walmart in the 3rd quarter worth about $2,072,000. Bank of New Hampshire increased its stake in Walmart by 13.7% during the 4th quarter. Bank of New Hampshire now owns 47,949 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $4,332,000 after purchasing an additional 5,786 shares in the last quarter. Iowa State Bank raised its holdings in Walmart by 213.8% in the fourth quarter. Iowa State Bank now owns 26,807 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $2,422,000 after buying an additional 18,263 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Walmart by 4.6% in the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 47,659,844 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $3,848,533,000 after buying an additional 2,107,197 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Virtu Financial LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Walmart during the third quarter valued at approximately $541,000. Institutional investors own 26.76% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Walmart

In other news, EVP John D. Rainey sold 38,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $98.80, for a total value of $3,754,400.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 257,281 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $25,419,362.80. The trade was a 12.87 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP David Chojnowski sold 5,600 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $91.45, for a total transaction of $512,120.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 87,404 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,993,095.80. The trade was a 6.02 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 175,177 shares of company stock valued at $16,403,728 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 45.58% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on WMT. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on shares of Walmart from $98.00 to $111.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on Walmart from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. Bank of America increased their price objective on Walmart from $95.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. StockNews.com lowered Walmart from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. Finally, Barclays raised their price target on shares of Walmart from $90.00 to $98.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 9th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $98.08.

Walmart Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:WMT opened at $102.45 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $822.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.04, a P/E/G ratio of 4.25 and a beta of 0.55. Walmart Inc. has a 1-year low of $55.85 and a 1-year high of $103.11. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $94.27 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $84.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42, a current ratio of 0.85 and a quick ratio of 0.23.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, November 19th. The retailer reported $0.58 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.05. Walmart had a net margin of 2.92% and a return on equity of 21.78%. The company had revenue of $169.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $167.69 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.51 EPS. Walmart’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Walmart Inc. will post 2.48 EPS for the current fiscal 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.