Lion Street Advisors LLC Grows Stock Position in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)

Lion Street Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) by 27.5% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 5,595 shares of the retailer’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,206 shares during the period. Lion Street Advisors LLC’s holdings in Walmart were worth $506,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Daymark Wealth Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Walmart by 4.2% during the 3rd quarter. Daymark Wealth Partners LLC now owns 149,659 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $12,085,000 after acquiring an additional 6,023 shares during the period. CWM LLC grew its position in shares of Walmart by 1.8% during the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 931,526 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $75,221,000 after acquiring an additional 16,749 shares during the period. Abner Herrman & Brock LLC grew its position in shares of Walmart by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. Abner Herrman & Brock LLC now owns 206,455 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $16,671,000 after acquiring an additional 2,098 shares during the period. Marcum Wealth LLC grew its position in shares of Walmart by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. Marcum Wealth LLC now owns 25,536 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $2,062,000 after acquiring an additional 297 shares during the period. Finally, Wedmont Private Capital boosted its holdings in Walmart by 4.3% in the 3rd quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 55,842 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $4,417,000 after buying an additional 2,320 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other 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 company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $98.80, for a total transaction 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO C Douglas Mcmillon sold 29,124 shares of the company’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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,814,805 shares in the company, valued at $348,825,769.20. This represents a 0.76 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 175,177 shares of company stock valued at $16,403,728. 45.58% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Walmart Stock Up 0.4 %

NYSE:WMT opened at $102.86 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.23, a current ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $93.67 and its two-hundred day moving average is $83.82. Walmart Inc. has a 52 week low of $55.85 and a 52 week high of $103.02. The stock has a market capitalization of $826.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.49 and a beta of 0.55.

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WMT has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their price objective on Walmart from $98.00 to $102.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on Walmart from $94.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Telsey Advisory Group lifted their price objective on Walmart from $92.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on Walmart from $89.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on Walmart from $105.00 to $111.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Walmart has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $96.01.

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.