Lodestone Wealth Management LLC Purchases 265 Shares of Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)

Lodestone Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) by 4.3% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 6,460 shares of the retailer’s stock after buying an additional 265 shares during the period. Lodestone Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Walmart were worth $584,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Walmart by 3.3% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 87,617,409 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $7,048,465,000 after purchasing an additional 2,786,061 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its holdings in Walmart by 12.9% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 63,135,639 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $5,098,203,000 after purchasing an additional 7,200,004 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in Walmart by 4.6% during the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 47,659,844 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $3,848,533,000 after purchasing an additional 2,107,197 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its holdings in Walmart by 3.7% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 41,501,782 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $3,392,658,000 after purchasing an additional 1,480,927 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Walmart by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 31,236,769 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $2,522,369,000 after buying an additional 350,881 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 26.76% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WMT has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on shares of Walmart from $80.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, November 18th. Telsey Advisory Group increased their price objective on shares of Walmart from $105.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on shares of Walmart from $100.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. KeyCorp increased their price objective on shares of Walmart from $96.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Walmart from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note 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 issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $99.17.

Insider Transactions at Walmart

In other news, Director Robert Edward Jr. Moritz acquired 5,446 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 27th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $91.81 per share, with a total value of $499,997.26. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 7,805 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $716,577.05. The trade was a 230.86 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Daniel J. Bartlett sold 1,830 shares of Walmart stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $91.07, for a total transaction of $166,658.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 460,705 shares in the company, valued at $41,956,404.35. This trade represents a 0.40 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 175,177 shares of company stock valued at $16,403,728. 45.58% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Walmart Stock Down 1.0 %

Shares of WMT opened at $104.04 on Friday. Walmart Inc. has a 12 month low of $55.99 and a 12 month high of $105.30. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $94.99 and its 200-day moving average is $85.33. The stock has a market capitalization of $835.78 billion, a PE ratio of 42.70, a P/E/G ratio of 4.25 and a beta of 0.55. The company has a current ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 0.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, November 19th. The retailer reported $0.58 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.53 by $0.05. Walmart had a net margin of 2.92% and a return on equity of 21.78%. The company had revenue of $169.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $167.69 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.51 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Walmart Inc. will post 2.48 EPS for the current year.

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.