Maxwell Wealth Strategies Inc. Grows Stock Holdings in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)

Maxwell Wealth Strategies Inc. grew its stake in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) by 14.2% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 43,849 shares of the retailer’s stock after acquiring an additional 5,442 shares during the quarter. Walmart makes up approximately 1.6% of Maxwell Wealth Strategies Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 17th biggest position. Maxwell Wealth Strategies Inc.’s holdings in Walmart were worth $3,669,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in WMT. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Walmart by 199.4% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 411,745,334 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $24,774,717,000 after purchasing an additional 274,229,968 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its position in shares of Walmart by 181.0% during the 1st 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 period. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board lifted its holdings in Walmart by 284.0% in the first quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 11,122,273 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $669,227,000 after acquiring an additional 8,225,552 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its position in Walmart by 8,814.4% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 6,963,218 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $562,280,000 after acquiring an additional 6,885,106 shares during the period. Finally, BlueSpruce Investments LP increased its stake in Walmart by 186.6% during the first quarter. BlueSpruce Investments LP now owns 10,332,775 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $621,723,000 after acquiring an additional 6,727,200 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 26.76% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Walmart

In other Walmart news, EVP John D. Rainey sold 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.48, for a total transaction of $232,440.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 384,165 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $29,765,104.20. This trade represents a 0.77 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Alice L. Walton sold 2,709,163 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.37, for a total transaction of $209,607,941.31. Following the sale, the insider now owns 630,501,148 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $48,781,873,820.76. This trade represents a 0.43 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 12,337,337 shares of company stock worth $958,823,647 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 45.58% of the company’s stock.

Walmart Trading Down 0.3 %

WMT opened at $84.25 on Friday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $81.29 and its 200-day simple moving average is $72.78. The company has a market cap of $677.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.81, a PEG ratio of 4.22 and a beta of 0.51. Walmart Inc. has a one year low of $49.85 and a one year high of $85.79. 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 (NYSE:WMT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 15th. The retailer reported $0.67 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.65 by $0.02. Walmart had a net margin of 2.34% and a return on equity of 21.72%. The company had revenue of $169.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $168.56 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.61 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Walmart Inc. will post 2.44 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently commented on WMT shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Walmart from $81.00 to $83.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 16th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Walmart from $88.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on shares of Walmart from $82.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. KeyCorp increased their price objective on shares of Walmart from $87.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Melius Research started coverage on Walmart in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $95.00 target price on the stock. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-eight have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $85.18.

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.