Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) Shares Acquired by Principal Financial Group Inc.

Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) by 14.9% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 6,235,504 shares of the retailer’s stock after purchasing an additional 809,352 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned about 0.08% of Walmart worth $503,517,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Woodmont Investment Counsel LLC boosted its holdings in Walmart by 1.0% in the third quarter. Woodmont Investment Counsel LLC now owns 71,605 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $5,782,000 after acquiring an additional 699 shares during the last quarter. WoodTrust Financial Corp boosted its holdings in Walmart by 0.6% in the third quarter. WoodTrust Financial Corp now owns 147,438 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $11,906,000 after acquiring an additional 872 shares during the last quarter. Hanseatic Management Services Inc. acquired a new position in Walmart in the third quarter valued at $72,000. Bridgewater Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in Walmart by 1.6% in the third quarter. Bridgewater Advisors Inc. now owns 19,968 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,631,000 after acquiring an additional 317 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Walkner Condon Financial Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Walmart by 7.0% in the third quarter. Walkner Condon Financial Advisors LLC now owns 4,969 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $401,000 after acquiring an additional 324 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 26.76% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on WMT shares. Telsey Advisory Group lifted their target price on Walmart from $82.00 to $92.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Walmart from $88.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Walmart from $81.00 to $83.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 16th. Citigroup raised their price objective on Walmart from $75.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on Walmart from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $83.89.

Walmart Trading Down 0.3 %

NYSE WMT opened at $83.44 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a quick ratio of 0.22 and a current ratio of 0.80. Walmart Inc. has a one year low of $49.85 and a one year high of $85.54. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $80.22 and a 200-day simple moving average of $71.67. The firm has a market capitalization of $670.71 billion, a PE ratio of 43.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.13 and a beta of 0.51.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, August 15th. The retailer reported $0.67 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.65 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $169.30 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $168.56 billion. Walmart had a return on equity of 21.72% and a net margin of 2.34%. Walmart’s quarterly revenue was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.61 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Walmart Inc. will post 2.44 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP John D. Rainey sold 3,000 shares of Walmart stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.48, for a total value of $232,440.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 384,165 shares in the company, valued at $29,765,104.20. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, EVP John D. Rainey sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.48, for a total value of $232,440.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 384,165 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $29,765,104.20. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO C Douglas Mcmillon sold 29,124 shares of Walmart stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.64, for a total value of $2,348,559.36. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,873,053 shares in the company, valued at $312,322,993.92. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 12,337,337 shares of company stock valued at $958,823,647 over the last three months. Company insiders own 45.58% of the company’s stock.

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.