BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp Raises Stock Position in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)

BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp raised its stake in shares of Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) by 16.2% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 986,375 shares of the retailer’s stock after buying an additional 137,489 shares during the period. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp’s holdings in Walmart were worth $79,650,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Jennison Associates LLC increased its position in Walmart by 479.6% during the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 18,479,259 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,492,200,000 after acquiring an additional 15,290,936 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its position in shares of Walmart by 12.9% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 63,135,639 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $5,098,203,000 after purchasing an additional 7,200,004 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Walmart by 8,814.4% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 6,963,218 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $562,280,000 after purchasing an additional 6,885,106 shares during the period. Raymond James & Associates boosted its holdings in shares of Walmart by 16.0% in the second quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 16,282,129 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,102,463,000 after buying an additional 2,246,656 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its position in Walmart by 4.6% during 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. 26.76% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Walmart Stock Up 0.7 %

Shares of NYSE:WMT opened at $92.50 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a current ratio of 0.85 and a quick ratio of 0.23. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $83.35 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $74.82. Walmart Inc. has a 1 year low of $49.85 and a 1 year high of $92.64. The firm has a market capitalization of $743.54 billion, a PE ratio of 37.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.36 and a beta of 0.51.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 19th. The retailer reported $0.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.05. Walmart had a return on equity of 21.78% and a net margin of 2.92%. The company had revenue of $169.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $167.69 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.51 EPS. Walmart’s revenue was up 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that Walmart Inc. will post 2.47 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have weighed in on WMT. TD Cowen increased their price target on shares of Walmart from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on Walmart from $88.00 to $92.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, November 18th. Guggenheim boosted their price target on Walmart from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. KeyCorp raised their price objective on Walmart from $88.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. Finally, Piper Sandler increased their target price on shares of Walmart from $83.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, November 18th. Two equities research 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $91.88.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Robert Edward Jr. Moritz acquired 5,446 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 27th. The shares were bought at an average price of $91.81 per share, with a total value of $499,997.26. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 7,805 shares in the company, valued at $716,577.05. This trade represents a 230.86 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Alice L. Walton sold 2,375,563 shares of Walmart stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $76.96, for a total value of $182,823,328.48. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 619,646,544 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $47,687,998,026.24. This trade represents a 0.38 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 12,385,186 shares of company stock valued at $963,206,365 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 45.58% of the company’s stock.

Walmart 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.