Atlas Brown Inc. Grows Stock Holdings in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)

Atlas Brown Inc. lifted its stake in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) by 1.2% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 19,765 shares of the retailer’s stock after purchasing an additional 235 shares during the quarter. Atlas Brown Inc.’s holdings in Walmart were worth $1,786,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Peterson Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in Walmart in the 3rd quarter worth about $26,000. Voisard Asset Management Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Walmart by 77.3% during the 3rd quarter. Voisard Asset Management Group Inc. now owns 399 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 174 shares during the last quarter. Hoese & Co LLP bought a new stake in shares of Walmart in the third quarter worth approximately $33,000. Livelsberger Financial Advisory bought a new stake in shares of Walmart in the third quarter worth approximately $36,000. Finally, Hara Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Walmart during the third quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 26.76% of the company’s stock.

Walmart Trading Up 1.1 %

Shares of Walmart stock traded up $1.04 on Friday, reaching $92.84. The company had a trading volume of 13,647,662 shares, compared to its average volume of 12,913,391. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42, a current ratio of 0.85 and a quick ratio of 0.23. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $90.16 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $80.29. The firm has a market cap of $745.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.10, a P/E/G ratio of 4.47 and a beta of 0.55. Walmart Inc. has a 1 year low of $53.39 and a 1 year high of $96.18.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, November 19th. The retailer reported $0.58 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 firm had revenue of $169.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $167.69 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.51 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts predict that Walmart Inc. will post 2.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO C Douglas Mcmillon sold 29,124 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $92.35, for a total transaction of $2,689,601.40. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,785,702 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $349,609,579.70. This trade represents a 0.76 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP David Chojnowski sold 5,600 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $91.45, for a total value of $512,120.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 87,404 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,993,095.80. The trade was a 6.02 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 140,412 shares of company stock worth $12,478,116 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 45.58% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WMT has been the subject of a number of research reports. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on shares of Walmart from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Walmart from $96.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Walmart from $89.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price target on shares of Walmart from $98.00 to $102.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. Finally, Roth Mkm lifted their target price on Walmart from $81.00 to $97.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Walmart has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $94.08.

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.