Embree Financial Group Boosts Stake in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)

Embree Financial Group lifted its position in shares of Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) by 9.3% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 9,979 shares of the retailer’s stock after purchasing an additional 845 shares during the period. Embree Financial Group’s holdings in Walmart were worth $902,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of WMT. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its stake in shares of Walmart by 479.6% during the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 18,479,259 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,492,200,000 after acquiring an additional 15,290,936 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its stake in shares of Walmart by 12.9% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 63,135,639 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $5,098,203,000 after acquiring an additional 7,200,004 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Walmart by 8,814.4% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 6,963,218 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $562,280,000 after acquiring an additional 6,885,106 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Walmart by 3.3% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 87,617,409 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $7,048,465,000 after buying an additional 2,786,061 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in Walmart by 4.6% in the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 47,659,844 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $3,848,533,000 after buying an additional 2,107,197 shares in the last quarter. 26.76% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on WMT shares. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Walmart from $90.00 to $98.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 9th. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Walmart from $92.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price target on shares of Walmart from $98.00 to $102.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. Bank of America raised their price target on shares of Walmart from $95.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. Finally, Truist Financial raised their price target on shares of Walmart from $89.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $94.69.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP John R. Furner sold 13,125 shares of Walmart stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $92.96, for a total transaction of $1,220,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 568,626 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $52,859,472.96. The trade was a 2.26 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP John D. Rainey sold 3,000 shares of Walmart stock in a transaction 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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 378,165 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $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. Insiders sold a total of 140,177 shares of company stock worth $12,895,688 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 45.58% of the company’s stock.

Walmart Stock Performance

NYSE:WMT opened at $97.39 on Tuesday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $92.02 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $82.29. The company has a market cap of $782.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.42 and a beta of 0.55. 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 Inc. has a 52 week low of $54.51 and a 52 week high of $97.46.

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

Walmart Company 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.