Aspen Wealth Strategies LLC Decreases Stake in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)

Aspen Wealth Strategies LLC lowered its stake in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) by 21.0% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 17,273 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 4,588 shares during the period. Walmart comprises 0.9% of Aspen Wealth Strategies LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 16th largest position. Aspen Wealth Strategies LLC’s holdings in Walmart were worth $1,395,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Voisard Asset Management Group Inc. increased its position in Walmart by 77.3% during the 3rd quarter. Voisard Asset Management Group Inc. now owns 399 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 174 shares during the period. Hoese & Co LLP purchased a new position in shares of Walmart during the third quarter valued at about $33,000. EntryPoint Capital LLC bought a new position in Walmart in the first quarter worth about $25,000. TruNorth Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Walmart by 138.3% in the second quarter. TruNorth Capital Management LLC now owns 429 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 249 shares during the period. Finally, Cultivar Capital Inc. bought a new stake in Walmart during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 26.76% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently commented on WMT. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on Walmart from $74.00 to $80.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, August 16th. KeyCorp raised their price objective on Walmart from $86.00 to $87.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Walmart from $75.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Sanford C. Bernstein started coverage on shares of Walmart in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. They set an “outperform” rating and a $95.00 price target for the company. Finally, Tigress Financial upped their price objective on shares of Walmart from $75.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $83.89.

Walmart Trading Up 0.7 %

Shares of Walmart stock opened at $81.96 on Friday. Walmart Inc. has a 1-year low of $49.85 and a 1-year high of $83.34. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $79.67 and its 200-day simple moving average is $70.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.22. The stock has a market capitalization of $658.81 billion, a PE ratio of 42.61, a P/E/G ratio of 4.08 and a beta of 0.51.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last released its earnings results on Thursday, August 15th. The retailer reported $0.67 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.65 by $0.02. Walmart had a return on equity of 21.72% and a net margin of 2.34%. The company had revenue of $169.30 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $168.56 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.61 earnings per share. Walmart’s quarterly revenue was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Walmart Inc. will post 2.44 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Walmart

In other news, major shareholder Alice L. Walton sold 2,709,163 shares of the 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 630,501,148 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $48,781,873,820.76. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Walmart news, major shareholder Alice L. Walton sold 2,709,163 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.37, for a total value of $209,607,941.31. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 630,501,148 shares in the company, valued at approximately $48,781,873,820.76. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO C Douglas Mcmillon sold 29,124 shares of Walmart stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.64, for a total value of $2,348,559.36. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,873,053 shares in the company, valued at $312,322,993.92. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 12,334,337 shares of company stock valued at $958,577,287 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.