Fulton Breakefield Broenniman LLC Buys 3,453 Shares of Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)

Fulton Breakefield Broenniman LLC raised its stake in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) by 73.1% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 8,176 shares of the retailer’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,453 shares during the period. Fulton Breakefield Broenniman LLC’s holdings in Walmart were worth $739,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Walmart by 3.3% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 87,617,409 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $7,048,465,000 after acquiring an additional 2,786,061 shares during the period. FMR LLC increased its holdings in Walmart by 12.9% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 63,135,639 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $5,098,203,000 after purchasing an additional 7,200,004 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in Walmart by 4.6% in the third 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 during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Walmart by 3.7% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 41,501,782 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $3,392,658,000 after buying an additional 1,480,927 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Walmart by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 31,236,769 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $2,522,369,000 after buying an additional 350,881 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 26.76% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Robert Edward Jr. Moritz purchased 5,446 shares of Walmart stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 27th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $91.81 per share, for a total transaction of $499,997.26. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 7,805 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $716,577.05. This trade represents a 230.86 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Daniel J. Bartlett sold 1,830 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $91.07, for a total value of $166,658.10. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 460,705 shares in the company, valued at $41,956,404.35. This trade represents a 0.40 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 137,177 shares of company stock worth $12,649,328. 45.58% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their target price on shares of Walmart from $98.00 to $102.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on Walmart from $105.00 to $111.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on Walmart from $89.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $105.00 price objective on shares of Walmart in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. Finally, Robert W. Baird upped their target price on Walmart from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $94.69.

Walmart Trading Up 1.1 %

Shares of Walmart stock opened at $98.61 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42, a quick ratio of 0.23 and a current ratio of 0.85. The stock has a market capitalization of $792.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.47, a P/E/G ratio of 4.42 and a beta of 0.55. Walmart Inc. has a 52-week low of $55.04 and a 52-week high of $98.93. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $92.71 and its 200 day simple moving average is $82.79.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 19th. The retailer reported $0.58 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 the consensus estimate of $167.69 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.51 EPS. Walmart’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Walmart Inc. will post 2.48 EPS for the current 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.