Optivise Advisory Services LLC Makes New Investment in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)

Optivise Advisory Services LLC purchased a new position in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm purchased 5,780 shares of the retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $467,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. increased its position in Walmart by 15.9% during the third quarter. Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. now owns 217,229 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $17,541,000 after acquiring an additional 29,727 shares during the last quarter. Nicolet Advisory Services LLC boosted its position in shares of Walmart by 1.7% during the third quarter. Nicolet Advisory Services LLC now owns 45,330 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $3,646,000 after buying an additional 755 shares during the period. Meridian Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Walmart in the third quarter worth approximately $11,678,000. GM Advisory Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Walmart by 32.1% during the 3rd quarter. GM Advisory Group LLC now owns 7,986 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $645,000 after acquiring an additional 1,940 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Allen Capital Group LLC boosted its holdings in Walmart by 3.6% during the 3rd quarter. Allen Capital Group LLC now owns 55,971 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $4,520,000 after acquiring an additional 1,937 shares during the period. 26.76% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Walmart Stock Up 2.3 %

WMT stock opened at $90.44 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a quick ratio of 0.22 and a current ratio of 0.85. Walmart Inc. has a one year low of $49.85 and a one year high of $90.91. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $82.12 and its 200 day moving average is $73.75. The firm has a market cap of $726.94 billion, a PE ratio of 37.11, a P/E/G ratio of 4.20 and a beta of 0.51.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, November 19th. The retailer reported $0.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $169.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $167.69 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.51 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that Walmart Inc. will post 2.47 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on WMT shares. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on shares of Walmart from $88.00 to $92.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, November 18th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Walmart from $75.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Guggenheim boosted their price target on Walmart from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. KeyCorp upped their price objective on shares of Walmart from $88.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Telsey Advisory Group upped their price objective on Walmart from $92.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $91.88.

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.