Pallas Capital Advisors LLC Boosts Holdings in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)

Pallas Capital Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) by 17.6% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 11,403 shares of the retailer’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,705 shares during the period. Pallas Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Walmart were worth $947,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Walmart by 199.4% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 411,745,334 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $24,774,717,000 after buying an additional 274,229,968 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its position in shares of Walmart by 181.0% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 56,861,234 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $3,421,342,000 after acquiring an additional 36,625,314 shares during the last quarter. Swiss National Bank increased its holdings in shares of Walmart by 187.4% in the 1st quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 13,303,200 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $800,454,000 after acquiring an additional 8,674,100 shares during the period. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board raised its position in Walmart by 284.0% in the 1st quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 11,122,273 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $669,227,000 after purchasing an additional 8,225,552 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. boosted its stake in Walmart by 184.1% during the 1st quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 12,567,533 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $756,188,000 after purchasing an additional 8,144,393 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 26.76% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on WMT shares. Truist Financial upgraded shares of Walmart from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $76.00 to $89.00 in a research note on Tuesday, September 24th. KeyCorp lifted their target price on Walmart from $86.00 to $87.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday. Redburn Atlantic upgraded Walmart to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Walmart from $81.00 to $92.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 11th. Finally, Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on shares of Walmart from $81.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $83.83.

Insider Buying and Selling at Walmart

In other news, major shareholder S Robson Walton sold 4,057,369 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.20, for a total transaction of $313,228,886.80. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 611,988,318 shares in the company, valued at $47,245,498,149.60. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other news, EVP John D. Rainey sold 3,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.19, for a total transaction of $207,570.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 387,165 shares in the company, valued at $26,787,946.35. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, major shareholder S Robson Walton sold 4,057,369 shares of Walmart stock in a transaction on Monday, September 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.20, for a total value of $313,228,886.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 611,988,318 shares in the company, valued at $47,245,498,149.60. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 12,337,337 shares of company stock worth $958,784,857 in the last 90 days. 45.58% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Walmart Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE WMT opened at $81.72 on Wednesday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $79.42 and a 200-day simple moving average of $70.78. 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 company has a market cap of $656.89 billion, a PE ratio of 42.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.13 and a beta of 0.51. Walmart Inc. has a 12 month low of $49.85 and a 12 month high of $83.34.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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 return on equity of 21.72% and a net margin of 2.34%. The company had revenue of $169.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $168.56 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.61 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Walmart Inc. will post 2.44 earnings per share for the current 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.