Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) Shares Bought by Masso Torrence Wealth Management Inc.

Masso Torrence Wealth Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) by 6.1% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 10,448 shares of the retailer’s stock after acquiring an additional 602 shares during the period. Masso Torrence Wealth Management Inc.’s holdings in Walmart were worth $707,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WMT. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Walmart by 199.4% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 411,745,334 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $24,774,717,000 after buying an additional 274,229,968 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its position in shares of Walmart by 181.0% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 56,861,234 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $3,421,342,000 after buying an additional 36,625,314 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Walmart in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $3,674,652,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position in shares of Walmart by 183.0% in the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 29,172,985 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,755,339,000 after buying an additional 18,865,484 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James & Associates raised its position in shares of Walmart by 212.6% in the first quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 14,035,473 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $844,514,000 after buying an additional 9,544,958 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 26.76% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. HSBC boosted their price objective on shares of Walmart from $70.00 to $81.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 11th. Raymond James upped their price target on shares of Walmart from $63.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, May 17th. StockNews.com raised shares of Walmart from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Walmart from $81.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $83.00 price target (up previously from $81.00) on shares of Walmart in a research report on Friday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $78.57.

Insider Activity at Walmart

In related news, Director S Robson Walton sold 982,038 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.39, for a total value of $64,215,464.82. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 644,511,850 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $42,144,629,871.50. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Walmart news, Director S Robson Walton sold 982,038 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.39, for a total transaction of $64,215,464.82. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 644,511,850 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $42,144,629,871.50. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO C Douglas Mcmillon sold 29,124 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.23, for a total transaction of $1,899,758.52. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,989,526 shares in the company, valued at $260,236,780.98. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 10,970,613 shares of company stock valued at $723,987,410 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 45.58% of the company’s stock.

Walmart Stock Up 1.1 %

Shares of WMT stock traded up $0.84 on Tuesday, hitting $74.56. The stock had a trading volume of 14,423,731 shares, compared to its average volume of 17,599,436. The firm has a market capitalization of $599.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.91, a P/E/G ratio of 4.04 and a beta of 0.50. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $69.15 and its 200-day moving average is $63.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a quick ratio of 0.22 and a current ratio of 0.80. Walmart Inc. has a 52-week low of $49.85 and a 52-week high of $74.75.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 15th. The retailer reported $0.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.65 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $169.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $168.56 billion. Walmart had a net margin of 2.34% and a return on equity of 21.72%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.61 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Walmart Inc. will post 2.43 earnings per share 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.