Johnson Bixby & Associates LLC Invests $203,000 in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)

Johnson Bixby & Associates LLC bought a new stake in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor bought 2,247 shares of the retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $203,000.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in WMT. Peterson Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Walmart during the 3rd quarter valued at $26,000. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. bought a new position in Walmart during the fourth quarter valued at about $32,000. Voisard Asset Management Group Inc. increased its holdings in Walmart by 77.3% during the third quarter. Voisard Asset Management Group Inc. now owns 399 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 174 shares during the last quarter. Hoese & Co LLP bought a new stake in Walmart in the third quarter worth about $33,000. Finally, Livelsberger Financial Advisory purchased a new position in Walmart in the third quarter valued at about $36,000. 26.76% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Walmart Price Performance

WMT stock opened at $94.84 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $92.02 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $82.13. The stock has a market cap of $761.90 billion, a PE ratio of 38.92, a P/E/G ratio of 4.42 and a beta of 0.55. Walmart Inc. has a one year low of $53.47 and a one year high of $96.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42, a current ratio of 0.85 and a quick ratio of 0.23.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, November 19th. The retailer reported $0.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.53 by $0.05. Walmart had a net margin of 2.92% and a return on equity of 21.78%. The company had revenue of $169.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $167.69 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.51 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that Walmart Inc. will post 2.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other Walmart news, CEO C Douglas Mcmillon sold 29,124 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $91.44, for a total value of $2,663,098.56. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 3,814,805 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $348,825,769.20. This represents a 0.76 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP John D. Rainey sold 3,000 shares of Walmart stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $82.12, for a total transaction of $246,360.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 378,165 shares in the company, valued at $31,054,909.80. This trade represents a 0.79 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 140,177 shares of company stock worth $12,895,688. 45.58% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on WMT shares. Evercore ISI raised their price target on shares of Walmart from $94.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. UBS Group boosted their target price on Walmart from $92.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. StockNews.com cut Walmart from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Walmart from $96.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Telsey Advisory Group upped their price objective on shares of Walmart from $92.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Walmart currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $94.69.

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.