Heck Capital Advisors LLC Makes New Investment in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)

Heck Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 15,551 shares of the retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $1,405,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of WMT. Brophy Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Walmart in the third quarter valued at $2,072,000. Bank of New Hampshire grew its position in shares of Walmart by 13.7% in the 4th quarter. Bank of New Hampshire now owns 47,949 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $4,332,000 after buying an additional 5,786 shares during the last quarter. Iowa State Bank increased its stake in shares of Walmart by 213.8% in the fourth quarter. Iowa State Bank now owns 26,807 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $2,422,000 after buying an additional 18,263 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Walmart by 4.6% in the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 47,659,844 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $3,848,533,000 after acquiring an additional 2,107,197 shares during the period. Finally, Virtu Financial LLC bought a new stake in Walmart in the third quarter valued at approximately $541,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 26.76% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on WMT shares. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $105.00 price target on shares of Walmart in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. Tigress Financial upped their price target on shares of Walmart from $86.00 to $115.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Bank of America increased their price target on Walmart from $95.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on Walmart from $80.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Walmart from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $95.11.

Insider Buying and Selling at Walmart

In related news, EVP John R. Furner sold 13,125 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $92.96, for a total value of $1,220,100.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 568,626 shares in the company, valued at approximately $52,859,472.96. The trade was a 2.26 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP David Chojnowski sold 5,600 shares of Walmart stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $91.45, for a total transaction of $512,120.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 87,404 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,993,095.80. The trade was a 6.02 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 137,177 shares of company stock worth $12,649,328 over the last three months. 45.58% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Walmart Stock Performance

WMT stock opened at $97.97 on Monday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $93.07 and a 200-day moving average of $83.19. The firm has a market cap of $787.00 billion, a PE ratio of 40.20, a P/E/G ratio of 4.46 and a beta of 0.55. Walmart Inc. has a 12-month low of $55.04 and a 12-month high of $99.00. The company has a quick ratio of 0.23, a current ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last announced its 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 firm had revenue of $169.59 billion during 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 business’s revenue was up 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.51 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Walmart Inc. will post 2.48 earnings per share for the current year.

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.