Chesley Taft & Associates LLC Acquires 435 Shares of Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)

Chesley Taft & Associates LLC lifted its holdings in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) by 10.1% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 4,748 shares of the retailer’s stock after purchasing an additional 435 shares during the quarter. Chesley Taft & Associates LLC’s holdings in Walmart were worth $429,000 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. Royal Capital Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Walmart by 23.5% during the second quarter. Royal Capital Wealth Management LLC now owns 10,547 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $714,000 after buying an additional 2,005 shares during the period. Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI boosted its holdings in Walmart by 41.3% during the 2nd quarter. Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI now owns 2,177,305 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $147,425,000 after acquiring an additional 636,475 shares during the period. Toronto Dominion Bank increased its stake in Walmart by 36.6% in the second quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 2,266,288 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $153,450,000 after purchasing an additional 606,784 shares during the period. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd lifted its position in shares of Walmart by 112.3% during the second quarter. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd now owns 49,863 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $3,376,000 after purchasing an additional 26,379 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Blankinship & Foster LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Walmart during the second quarter valued at $216,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 26.76% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently commented on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on shares of Walmart from $89.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on shares of Walmart from $94.00 to $96.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on Walmart from $105.00 to $111.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Truist Financial raised their price objective on Walmart from $89.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Walmart from $100.00 to $106.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday. 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 MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $94.69.

Walmart Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE WMT opened at $93.26 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $749.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.27, a PEG ratio of 4.36 and a beta of 0.55. Walmart Inc. has a 12 month low of $53.44 and a 12 month high of $96.18. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $91.47 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $81.79. 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 posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 19th. The retailer reported $0.58 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.53 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $169.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $167.69 billion. Walmart had a net margin of 2.92% and a return on equity of 21.78%. The firm’s revenue was up 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.51 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Walmart Inc. will post 2.47 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Daniel J. Bartlett sold 1,830 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $91.07, for a total transaction of $166,658.10. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 460,705 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $41,956,404.35. This trade represents a 0.40 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, EVP John D. Rainey sold 3,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 owns 378,165 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $31,054,909.80. This represents a 0.79 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 97,928 shares of company stock valued at $8,978,123 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 45.58% of the company’s stock.

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.