Ritholtz Wealth Management Grows Stock Holdings in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)

Ritholtz Wealth Management lifted its position in shares of Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) by 5.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 204,338 shares of the retailer’s stock after buying an additional 10,786 shares during the quarter. Walmart makes up about 0.5% of Ritholtz Wealth Management’s holdings, making the stock its 29th largest position. Ritholtz Wealth Management’s holdings in Walmart were worth $18,462,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of WMT. Peterson Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Walmart during the 3rd quarter worth about $26,000. Voisard Asset Management Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Walmart by 77.3% in the third quarter. Voisard Asset Management Group Inc. now owns 399 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 174 shares in the last quarter. Hoese & Co LLP acquired a new stake in shares of Walmart during the third quarter worth approximately $33,000. Livelsberger Financial Advisory bought a new stake in shares of Walmart in the 3rd quarter worth about $36,000. Finally, Hara Capital LLC bought a new stake in Walmart in the third quarter valued at about $37,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 26.76% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Walmart

In other Walmart news, EVP John D. Rainey sold 3,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 378,165 shares in the company, valued at $31,054,909.80. The trade was a 0.79 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP John R. Furner sold 13,125 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 24th. The stock was 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 owns 593,040 shares in the company, valued at $49,198,598.40. This represents a 2.17 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 138,347 shares of company stock valued at $12,311,491. Insiders own 45.58% of the company’s stock.

Walmart Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:WMT opened at $91.33 on Friday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $90.86 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $81.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42, a current ratio of 0.85 and a quick ratio of 0.23. Walmart Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $53.44 and a fifty-two week high of $96.18. The stock has a market capitalization of $733.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.41 and a beta of 0.55.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 19th. The retailer reported $0.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.53 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $169.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $167.69 billion. Walmart had a return on equity of 21.78% and a net margin of 2.92%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.51 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Walmart Inc. will post 2.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have commented on the company. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their target price on Walmart from $98.00 to $102.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Walmart from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Walmart from $89.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. Tigress Financial increased their price objective on shares of Walmart from $86.00 to $115.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on Walmart from $89.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $94.49.

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.