D.A. Davidson & CO. Raises Holdings in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)

D.A. Davidson & CO. raised its position in shares of Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) by 3.8% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 357,067 shares of the retailer’s stock after acquiring an additional 13,091 shares during the period. D.A. Davidson & CO.’s holdings in Walmart were worth $28,833,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. WFA Asset Management Corp raised its holdings in Walmart by 201.0% in the first quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 2,092 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $126,000 after buying an additional 1,397 shares during the period. Dupont Capital Management Corp increased its position in shares of Walmart by 165.4% in the first quarter. Dupont Capital Management Corp now owns 270,147 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $16,255,000 after acquiring an additional 168,346 shares in the last quarter. EntryPoint Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Walmart in the 1st quarter valued at $25,000. Silvercrest Asset Management Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Walmart by 180.7% during the 1st quarter. Silvercrest Asset Management Group LLC now owns 93,833 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $5,646,000 after acquiring an additional 60,408 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its position in Walmart by 248.0% during the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 732,829 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $44,091,000 after purchasing an additional 522,238 shares during the period. 26.76% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, major shareholder Alice L. Walton sold 2,375,563 shares of Walmart stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the insider now owns 619,646,544 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $47,687,998,026.24. The trade was a 0.38 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP John D. Rainey sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.48, for a total transaction of $232,440.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 384,165 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $29,765,104.20. This represents a 0.77 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 12,337,337 shares of company stock valued at $958,823,647 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 45.58% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have commented on the company. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Walmart from $92.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price target on Walmart from $77.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 16th. Melius Research started coverage on shares of Walmart in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $95.00 price objective for the company. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on shares of Walmart from $83.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their price target on shares of Walmart from $66.00 to $89.00 and gave the company 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 assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $91.88.

Walmart Price Performance

Shares of WMT opened at $89.45 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $719.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.29 and a beta of 0.51. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $82.29 and its 200-day moving average is $74.14. Walmart Inc. has a one year low of $49.85 and a one year high of $90.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a quick ratio of 0.23 and a current ratio of 0.85.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, November 19th. The retailer reported $0.58 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.53 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $169.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $167.69 billion. Walmart had a net margin of 2.92% and a return on equity of 21.78%. Walmart’s quarterly revenue was up 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.51 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Walmart Inc. will post 2.47 EPS 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.