Lodestone Wealth Management LLC Increases Stock Position in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)

Lodestone Wealth Management LLC raised its position in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) by 14.3% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 6,195 shares of the retailer’s stock after acquiring an additional 776 shares during the quarter. Lodestone Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Walmart were worth $500,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Liberty Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Walmart in the first quarter valued at $270,000. Commerce Bank increased its position in shares of Walmart by 189.4% during the first quarter. Commerce Bank now owns 917,625 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $55,213,000 after buying an additional 600,521 shares during the period. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. raised its stake in Walmart by 290.7% in the first quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 270,065 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $16,250,000 after buying an additional 200,947 shares in the last quarter. Sustainable Insight Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Walmart in the first quarter worth about $723,000. Finally, Meridian Management Co. lifted its holdings in Walmart by 200.2% in the first quarter. Meridian Management Co. now owns 140,880 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $8,477,000 after buying an additional 93,955 shares during the period. 26.76% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on WMT. UBS Group increased their target price on Walmart from $81.00 to $92.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 11th. Oppenheimer upped their price target on Walmart from $81.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 14th. 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, October 28th. Telsey Advisory Group upped their target price on shares of Walmart from $82.00 to $92.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, Melius Research assumed coverage on shares of Walmart in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $95.00 price target for the company. One investment 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Walmart presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $83.89.

Walmart Stock Performance

NYSE:WMT opened at $82.19 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $79.80 and a 200 day moving average price of $71.17. The stock has a market capitalization of $660.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.81, a P/E/G ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 0.51. Walmart Inc. has a 12-month low of $49.85 and a 12-month high of $83.34. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 15th. The retailer reported $0.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.65 by $0.02. Walmart had a net margin of 2.34% and a return on equity of 21.72%. The business had revenue of $169.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $168.56 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.61 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Walmart Inc. will post 2.44 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Walmart

In other Walmart news, major shareholder Alice L. Walton sold 2,709,163 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.37, for a total transaction of $209,607,941.31. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, EVP John R. Furner sold 13,125 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $82.96, for a total value of $1,088,850.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 593,040 shares in the company, valued at $49,198,598.40. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Alice L. Walton sold 2,709,163 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.37, for a total transaction 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 approximately $48,781,873,820.76. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 12,334,337 shares of company stock worth $958,577,287. Insiders own 45.58% of the company’s stock.

About Walmart

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.