Yarger Wealth Strategies LLC Raises Holdings in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)

Yarger Wealth Strategies LLC increased its position in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) by 3.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,459 shares of the retailer’s stock after buying an additional 122 shares during the period. Yarger Wealth Strategies LLC’s holdings in Walmart were worth $313,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Peterson Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Walmart in the 3rd quarter worth $26,000. Voisard Asset Management Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Walmart by 77.3% in the 3rd quarter. Voisard Asset Management Group Inc. now owns 399 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 174 shares during the last quarter. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. bought a new position in shares of Walmart in the 4th quarter valued at about $32,000. Hoese & Co LLP purchased a new position in Walmart in the third quarter worth about $33,000. Finally, Livelsberger Financial Advisory bought a new stake in Walmart during the third quarter worth approximately $36,000. 26.76% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Walmart

In other Walmart news, Director Robert Edward Jr. Moritz acquired 5,446 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 27th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $91.81 per share, with a total value of $499,997.26. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 7,805 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $716,577.05. This trade represents a 230.86 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO C Douglas Mcmillon sold 29,124 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $82.79, for a total value of $2,411,175.96. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,843,929 shares in the company, valued at $318,238,881.91. This represents a 0.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 140,177 shares of company stock valued at $12,478,149 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 45.58% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on Walmart from $94.00 to $96.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Oppenheimer raised their price target on Walmart from $81.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $105.00 price objective on shares of Walmart in a research report on Wednesday. Telsey Advisory Group raised their target price on shares of Walmart from $92.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, DZ Bank cut shares of Walmart from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $91.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Walmart currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $94.49.

Walmart Stock Up 0.8 %

Shares of NYSE WMT opened at $92.02 on Friday. Walmart Inc. has a 12-month low of $53.44 and a 12-month high of $96.18. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $91.01 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $81.10. The stock has a market capitalization of $739.19 billion, a PE ratio of 37.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.41 and a beta of 0.55. The company has a current ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 0.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 19th. The retailer reported $0.58 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $169.59 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 last year, the company earned $0.51 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Walmart Inc. will post 2.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Walmart 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.