Avestar Capital LLC Purchases 3,124 Shares of Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)

Avestar Capital LLC boosted its position in shares of Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) by 10.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 32,496 shares of the retailer’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,124 shares during the period. Avestar Capital LLC’s holdings in Walmart were worth $2,943,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Jennison Associates LLC grew its position in shares of Walmart by 479.6% during the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 18,479,259 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,492,200,000 after purchasing an additional 15,290,936 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its stake in Walmart by 12.9% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 63,135,639 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $5,098,203,000 after buying an additional 7,200,004 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its position in Walmart by 8,814.4% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 6,963,218 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $562,280,000 after buying an additional 6,885,106 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Walmart by 3.3% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 87,617,409 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $7,048,465,000 after acquiring an additional 2,786,061 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Walmart by 4.6% in the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 47,659,844 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $3,848,533,000 after acquiring an additional 2,107,197 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 26.76% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Walmart

In other news, EVP John D. Rainey sold 38,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $98.80, for a total transaction of $3,754,400.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 257,281 shares in the company, valued at approximately $25,419,362.80. The trade was a 12.87 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 3,814,805 shares of the company’s stock, 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. In the last three months, insiders have sold 175,177 shares of company stock valued at $16,403,728. 45.58% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Walmart Price Performance

WMT opened at $105.10 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $94.63 and its 200-day moving average price is $84.95. Walmart Inc. has a 52-week low of $55.85 and a 52-week high of $105.24. The stock has a market capitalization of $844.29 billion, a PE ratio of 43.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.25 and a beta of 0.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42, a quick ratio of 0.23 and a current ratio of 0.85.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 19th. The retailer reported $0.58 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.53 by $0.05. The business 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%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.51 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Walmart Inc. will post 2.48 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently commented on the company. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Walmart from $100.00 to $113.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on shares of Walmart from $83.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, November 18th. KeyCorp raised their price objective on shares of Walmart from $96.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their target price on shares of Walmart from $98.00 to $102.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. Finally, Citigroup raised their price target on Walmart from $98.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $98.85.

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.