Richard C. Young & CO. LTD. Sells 2,627 Shares of Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)

Richard C. Young & CO. LTD. lessened its stake in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) by 1.3% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 194,120 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 2,627 shares during the quarter. Walmart makes up 1.9% of Richard C. Young & CO. LTD.’s holdings, making the stock its 20th largest holding. Richard C. Young & CO. LTD.’s holdings in Walmart were worth $17,539,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Birch Hill Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Walmart by 3.2% during the 4th quarter. Birch Hill Investment Advisors LLC now owns 9,673 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $874,000 after buying an additional 298 shares during the period. Stoneridge Investment Partners LLC boosted its position in Walmart by 137.9% in the fourth quarter. Stoneridge Investment Partners LLC now owns 13,905 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,256,000 after purchasing an additional 8,061 shares during the last quarter. Moloney Securities Asset Management LLC boosted its position in Walmart by 3.8% in the fourth quarter. Moloney Securities Asset Management LLC now owns 55,581 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $5,022,000 after purchasing an additional 2,032 shares during the last quarter. Hobart Private Capital LLC increased its position in shares of Walmart by 1.6% during the 4th quarter. Hobart Private Capital LLC now owns 6,926 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $626,000 after purchasing an additional 111 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Advisory Resource Group boosted its holdings in shares of Walmart by 11.7% in the fourth quarter. Advisory Resource Group now owns 9,044 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $817,000 after buying an additional 945 shares during the last quarter. 26.76% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently commented on WMT. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on Walmart from $80.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, November 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Walmart from $97.00 to $112.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on Walmart from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Walmart from $90.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 9th. Finally, Telsey Advisory Group raised their price objective on Walmart from $92.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $96.95.

Walmart Stock Up 1.6 %

Walmart stock opened at $102.77 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $94.07 and a two-hundred day moving average of $84.36. Walmart Inc. has a twelve month low of $55.85 and a twelve month high of $103.11. The company has a current ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 0.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42. The stock has a market capitalization of $825.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.18, a PEG ratio of 4.25 and a beta of 0.55.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 19th. The retailer reported $0.58 earnings per share 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 firm had revenue of $169.59 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $167.69 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.51 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that Walmart Inc. will post 2.48 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Walmart

In related news, EVP John D. Rainey sold 38,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $98.80, for a total transaction of $3,754,400.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 257,281 shares in the company, valued at approximately $25,419,362.80. This represents a 12.87 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction 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 stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $91.44, for a total transaction of $2,663,098.56. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 3,814,805 shares in the company, valued at approximately $348,825,769.20. The trade was a 0.76 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 175,177 shares of company stock valued at $16,403,728 in the last ninety days. Corporate 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.