Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) Shares Purchased by Financial Advocates Investment Management

Financial Advocates Investment Management grew its stake in shares of Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) by 2.5% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 19,299 shares of the retailer’s stock after purchasing an additional 464 shares during the quarter. Financial Advocates Investment Management’s holdings in Walmart were worth $1,558,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Walmart by 199.4% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 411,745,334 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $24,774,717,000 after buying an additional 274,229,968 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its holdings in Walmart by 181.0% in 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. Swiss National Bank increased its holdings in Walmart by 187.4% in the 1st quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 13,303,200 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $800,454,000 after buying an additional 8,674,100 shares during the period. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board increased its holdings in Walmart by 284.0% in the 1st quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 11,122,273 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $669,227,000 after buying an additional 8,225,552 shares during the period. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. increased its holdings in Walmart by 184.1% in the 1st quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 12,567,533 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $756,188,000 after buying an additional 8,144,393 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 26.76% of the company’s stock.

Walmart Stock Up 0.7 %

NYSE WMT opened at $81.96 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $79.67 and a 200 day moving average price of $70.94. Walmart Inc. has a one year low of $49.85 and a one year high of $83.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a quick ratio of 0.22 and a current ratio of 0.80. The company has a market cap of $658.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.61, a P/E/G ratio of 4.08 and a beta of 0.51.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 15th. The retailer reported $0.67 EPS 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 firm had revenue of $169.30 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $168.56 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.61 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that Walmart Inc. will post 2.44 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WMT has been the topic of several research reports. Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $83.00 price target (up previously from $81.00) on shares of Walmart in a report on Friday, August 16th. Truist Financial upgraded shares of Walmart from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $76.00 to $89.00 in a report on Tuesday, September 24th. Roth Mkm upped their price objective on Walmart from $71.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 16th. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on Walmart from $82.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, Tigress Financial upped their price objective on Walmart from $75.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $83.89.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Walmart news, EVP John D. Rainey sold 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.48, for a total value of $232,440.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 384,165 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $29,765,104.20. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, major shareholder S Robson Walton sold 4,057,369 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.20, for a total transaction of $313,228,886.80. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 611,988,318 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $47,245,498,149.60. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP John D. Rainey sold 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.48, for a total value of $232,440.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 384,165 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $29,765,104.20. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 12,334,337 shares of company stock valued at $958,577,287 in the last three months. 45.58% of the stock is currently owned by 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.