Cutler Investment Counsel LLC Sells 5,955 Shares of Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)

Cutler Investment Counsel LLC lessened its stake in shares of Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) by 2.3% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 248,093 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 5,955 shares during the quarter. Walmart comprises about 2.5% of Cutler Investment Counsel LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 9th biggest position. Cutler Investment Counsel LLC’s holdings in Walmart were worth $20,034,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Walmart by 199.4% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 411,745,334 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $24,774,717,000 after acquiring an additional 274,229,968 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its position in shares of Walmart by 181.0% during 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 purchasing an additional 36,625,314 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc increased its holdings in shares of Walmart by 1.8% during the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 36,282,740 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $2,456,704,000 after purchasing an additional 644,353 shares during the period. Raymond James & Associates raised its position in shares of Walmart by 3.0% in the third quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 16,766,325 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,353,881,000 after buying an additional 484,196 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of Walmart by 5.4% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 16,184,945 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,095,946,000 after buying an additional 834,005 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 26.76% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WMT has been the subject of several analyst reports. Tigress Financial lifted their price objective on Walmart from $75.00 to $86.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. KeyCorp increased their price objective on shares of Walmart from $87.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on shares of Walmart from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on shares of Walmart from $71.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 13th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Walmart from $82.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-eight have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $85.18.

Walmart Stock Down 0.3 %

WMT stock traded down $0.22 during trading on Friday, hitting $84.25. 17,370,602 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 12,192,850. 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 cap of $677.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.22 and a beta of 0.51. Walmart Inc. has a 1 year low of $49.85 and a 1 year high of $85.79. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $81.29 and its two-hundred day moving average is $72.78.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 15th. The retailer reported $0.67 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $169.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $168.56 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.61 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Walmart Inc. will post 2.44 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Walmart

In other Walmart news, EVP Daniel J. Bartlett sold 2,063 shares of Walmart stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.76, for a total value of $166,607.88. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 459,558 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $37,113,904.08. The trade was a 0.45 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP John D. Rainey sold 3,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $82.12, for a total transaction of $246,360.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 378,165 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $31,054,909.80. This represents a 0.79 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 12,337,337 shares of company stock worth $958,823,647 over the last quarter. 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.