Carlson Capital Management Raises Stock Holdings in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)

Carlson Capital Management boosted its holdings in shares of Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) by 1.8% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 7,499 shares of the retailer’s stock after purchasing an additional 134 shares during the quarter. Carlson Capital Management’s holdings in Walmart were worth $606,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Summit Financial Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Walmart by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Summit Financial Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 23,720 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,915,000 after acquiring an additional 118 shares during the last quarter. CAP Partners LLC increased its position in Walmart by 2.1% in the 3rd quarter. CAP Partners LLC now owns 6,054 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $489,000 after acquiring an additional 125 shares during the period. Investment Advisory Group LLC raised its stake in Walmart by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter. Investment Advisory Group LLC now owns 6,182 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $499,000 after acquiring an additional 126 shares in the last quarter. Jag Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Walmart by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter. Jag Capital Management LLC now owns 9,413 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $760,000 after acquiring an additional 132 shares during the period. Finally, Professional Financial Advisors LLC boosted its position in Walmart by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Professional Financial Advisors LLC now owns 21,839 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,763,000 after acquiring an additional 137 shares during the period. 26.76% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on shares of Walmart from $81.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Walmart from $90.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. Guggenheim raised their target price on shares of Walmart from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on Walmart from $88.00 to $92.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, November 18th. Finally, Roth Mkm raised their target price on shares of Walmart from $81.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a 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 assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $91.88.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP John D. Rainey sold 3,000 shares of Walmart stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.48, for a total value of $232,440.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 384,165 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $29,765,104.20. This trade represents a 0.77 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, major shareholder S Robson Walton sold 4,057,369 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.20, for a total transaction of $313,228,886.80. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 611,988,318 shares in the company, valued at approximately $47,245,498,149.60. The trade was a 0.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 12,337,337 shares of company stock valued at $958,823,647. 45.58% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Walmart Stock Up 1.3 %

Shares of WMT stock traded up $1.13 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $90.63. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 3,695,480 shares, compared to its average volume of 16,859,209. The company has a quick ratio of 0.23, a current ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56. Walmart Inc. has a one year low of $49.85 and a one year high of $90.95. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $82.29 and a 200-day moving average price of $74.14. The company has a market cap of $728.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.29 and a beta of 0.51.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 19th. The retailer reported $0.58 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.05. The company 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% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.51 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Walmart Inc. will post 2.47 earnings per share for the current year.

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.