Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) Shares Bought by Janus Henderson Group PLC

Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its holdings in shares of Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) by 248.0% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 732,829 shares of the retailer’s stock after purchasing an additional 522,238 shares during the quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC’s holdings in Walmart were worth $44,091,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Waypoint Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Walmart in the fourth quarter valued at about $205,000. JB Capital LLC grew its holdings in shares of Walmart by 15.7% in the fourth quarter. JB Capital LLC now owns 60,693 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $9,568,000 after purchasing an additional 8,232 shares during the period. Alta Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Walmart in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,576,000. Parsons Capital Management Inc. RI grew its holdings in shares of Walmart by 15.3% in the fourth quarter. Parsons Capital Management Inc. RI now owns 14,039 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $2,213,000 after purchasing an additional 1,864 shares during the period. Finally, Zimmermann Investment Management & Planning LLC grew its holdings in shares of Walmart by 8.2% in the fourth quarter. Zimmermann Investment Management & Planning LLC now owns 5,728 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $903,000 after purchasing an additional 434 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 26.76% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, major shareholder Alice L. Walton sold 1,132,123 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.02, for a total transaction of $73,610,637.46. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 647,371,888 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $42,092,120,157.76. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, EVP Daniel J. Bartlett sold 2,398 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.50, for a total transaction of $166,661.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 463,871 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $32,239,034.50. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Alice L. Walton sold 1,132,123 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.02, for a total value of $73,610,637.46. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 647,371,888 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $42,092,120,157.76. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 14,540,863 shares of company stock valued at $954,424,817 over the last three months. 45.58% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Walmart Stock Performance

Shares of WMT traded down $0.44 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $69.18. 12,521,194 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 17,295,771. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.23. The stock has a market capitalization of $556.45 billion, a PE ratio of 29.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.02 and a beta of 0.50. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $67.92 and its 200-day simple moving average is $61.98. Walmart Inc. has a 52-week low of $49.85 and a 52-week high of $71.33.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 16th. The retailer reported $0.60 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.52 by $0.08. Walmart had a return on equity of 21.57% and a net margin of 2.88%. The firm had revenue of $161.50 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $159.57 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.49 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts expect that Walmart Inc. will post 2.43 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on WMT shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Walmart from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $66.00 to $81.00 in a report on Monday, June 10th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on shares of Walmart from $69.00 to $71.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 2nd. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Walmart from $63.00 to $69.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 7th. Truist Financial increased their price target on shares of Walmart from $60.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, May 17th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Walmart from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 17th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-eight have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Walmart presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $71.60.

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.