Echo45 Advisors LLC Sells 172 Shares of Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)

Echo45 Advisors LLC decreased its position in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) by 3.5% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 4,774 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 172 shares during the quarter. Echo45 Advisors LLC’s holdings in Walmart were worth $433,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Peterson Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Walmart in the 3rd quarter worth about $26,000. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Walmart in the 4th quarter worth about $32,000. Voisard Asset Management Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Walmart by 77.3% in the 3rd quarter. Voisard Asset Management Group Inc. now owns 399 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 174 shares during the last quarter. Hoese & Co LLP purchased a new position in shares of Walmart in the 3rd quarter worth about $33,000. Finally, Livelsberger Financial Advisory purchased a new stake in Walmart during the third quarter valued at about $36,000. Institutional investors own 26.76% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP John R. Furner sold 13,125 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $92.00, for a total transaction of $1,207,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 579,915 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $53,352,180. This represents a 2.21 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed 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 that occurred on Wednesday, November 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $91.44, for a total value of $2,663,098.56. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,814,805 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $348,825,769.20. This trade represents a 0.76 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 140,177 shares of company stock valued at $12,895,688. 45.58% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have commented on WMT shares. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Walmart from $92.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. TD Cowen upped their price objective on shares of Walmart from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $105.00 price objective on shares of Walmart in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Walmart from $96.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Walmart from $75.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $94.69.

Walmart Stock Up 1.1 %

Shares of NYSE WMT opened at $94.84 on Friday. Walmart Inc. has a one year low of $53.47 and a one year high of $96.18. 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 simple moving average is $91.81 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $81.95. The stock has a market capitalization of $761.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.92, a PEG ratio of 4.42 and a beta of 0.55.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last issued its quarterly 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. The business 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%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.51 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Walmart Inc. will post 2.48 EPS for the current fiscal 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.