Avion Wealth Grows Stake in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)

Avion Wealth lifted its holdings in shares of Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) by 39.2% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 6,469 shares of the retailer’s stock after buying an additional 1,821 shares during the period. Avion Wealth’s holdings in Walmart were worth $584,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WMT. Creative Planning boosted its holdings in shares of Walmart by 4.9% in the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 1,800,743 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $142,973,000 after buying an additional 83,376 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB lifted its position in Walmart by 0.4% in the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 5,345,293 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $431,632,000 after acquiring an additional 18,644 shares during the last quarter. Prospect Financial Services LLC purchased a new stake in Walmart in the third quarter valued at $285,000. First United Bank & Trust grew its holdings in shares of Walmart by 8.7% during the third quarter. First United Bank & Trust now owns 8,555 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $691,000 after purchasing an additional 685 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Acorn Creek Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Walmart during the third quarter worth about $258,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 26.76% of the company’s stock.

Walmart Trading Up 1.1 %

Shares of WMT opened at $103.62 on Thursday. Walmart Inc. has a twelve month low of $55.85 and a twelve month high of $103.90. The company has a current ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 0.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42. The firm has a market capitalization of $832.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.53, a PEG ratio of 4.25 and a beta of 0.55. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $94.45 and its two-hundred day moving average is $84.82.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 19th. The retailer reported $0.58 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $169.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $167.69 billion. Walmart had a return on equity of 21.78% and a net margin of 2.92%. The company’s revenue was up 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.51 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Walmart Inc. will post 2.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

WMT has been the topic of a number of research reports. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on Walmart from $105.00 to $111.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. KeyCorp raised their target price on shares of Walmart from $96.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Guggenheim increased their price target on shares of Walmart from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on shares of Walmart from $89.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of Walmart from $80.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, November 18th. Two equities research 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 stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $98.56.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP John D. Rainey sold 38,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $98.80, for a total value of $3,754,400.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 257,281 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $25,419,362.80. This represents a 12.87 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO C Douglas Mcmillon sold 29,124 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $91.44, for a total value of $2,663,098.56. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,814,805 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $348,825,769.20. The trade was a 0.76 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 175,177 shares of company stock worth $16,403,728 over the last 90 days. 45.58% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.