Kelly Financial Services LLC Purchases New Position in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)

Kelly Financial Services LLC acquired a new position in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 68,174 shares of the retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $6,159,000. Walmart makes up about 1.8% of Kelly Financial Services LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 14th largest holding.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in WMT. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Walmart by 3.3% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 87,617,409 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $7,048,465,000 after buying an additional 2,786,061 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 7,200,004 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Walmart by 4.6% during the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 47,659,844 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $3,848,533,000 after acquiring an additional 2,107,197 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its position 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 valued at $3,392,658,000 after acquiring an additional 1,480,927 shares during the period. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc increased its stake in shares of Walmart by 1.8% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 36,282,740 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $2,456,704,000 after purchasing an additional 644,353 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 26.76% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Walmart

In other news, EVP Daniel J. Bartlett sold 1,830 shares of Walmart 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 directly owns 460,705 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $41,956,404.35. The trade was a 0.40 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO C Douglas Mcmillon sold 29,124 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $82.79, for a total value of $2,411,175.96. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 3,843,929 shares in the company, valued at $318,238,881.91. This represents a 0.75 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 140,177 shares of company stock worth $12,478,149. Insiders own 45.58% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have commented on WMT. KeyCorp raised their price objective on Walmart from $96.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted 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. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on shares of Walmart from $105.00 to $111.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on shares of Walmart from $94.00 to $96.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Finally, Melius Research started coverage on shares of Walmart in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. They set a “buy” rating and a $95.00 price target for the company. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $94.49.

Walmart Stock Performance

Shares of Walmart stock opened at $92.02 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $739.19 billion, a PE ratio of 37.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.41 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 $53.44 and a 52 week high of $96.18. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $91.15 and its 200-day simple moving average is $81.37.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, November 19th. The retailer reported $0.58 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.53 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $169.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $167.69 billion. Walmart had a net margin of 2.92% and a return on equity of 21.78%. Walmart’s revenue was up 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.51 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Walmart Inc. will post 2.47 earnings per share for the current year.

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.