Howe & Rusling Inc. Has $504,000 Stake in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)

Howe & Rusling Inc. boosted its stake in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) by 48.0% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 6,241 shares of the retailer’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,023 shares during the quarter. Howe & Rusling Inc.’s holdings in Walmart were worth $504,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. CAP Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Walmart by 2.1% during the third quarter. CAP Partners LLC now owns 6,054 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $489,000 after buying an additional 125 shares in the last quarter. Investment Advisory Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Walmart by 2.1% in the third quarter. Investment Advisory Group LLC now owns 6,182 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $499,000 after purchasing an additional 126 shares in the last quarter. Jag Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Walmart by 1.4% in the third quarter. Jag Capital Management LLC now owns 9,413 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $760,000 after purchasing an additional 132 shares in the last quarter. Professional Financial Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Walmart by 0.6% during the third quarter. Professional Financial Advisors LLC now owns 21,839 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,763,000 after purchasing an additional 137 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Inspire Advisors LLC grew its position in Walmart by 2.1% in the third quarter. Inspire Advisors LLC now owns 6,677 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $539,000 after purchasing an additional 137 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 26.76% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have weighed in on WMT shares. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Walmart from $90.00 to $96.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Oppenheimer increased their price target on shares of Walmart from $81.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price objective on shares of Walmart from $98.00 to $102.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Telsey Advisory Group boosted their price target on Walmart from $92.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on Walmart from $88.00 to $92.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday. One investment analyst has 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $91.51.

Walmart Stock Performance

Shares of Walmart stock opened at $87.18 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $700.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.78, a P/E/G ratio of 4.33 and a beta of 0.51. The company has a quick ratio of 0.22, a current ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56. Walmart Inc. has a twelve month low of $49.85 and a twelve month high of $88.29. The company’s fifty day moving average is $81.75 and its 200 day moving average is $73.43.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 19th. The retailer reported $0.58 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.53 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $169.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $167.69 billion. Walmart had a return on equity of 21.78% and a net margin of 2.92%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.51 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Walmart Inc. will post 2.43 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Walmart

In related news, major shareholder S Robson Walton sold 4,057,369 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.20, for a total transaction of $313,228,886.80. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 611,988,318 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $47,245,498,149.60. This trade represents a 0.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction 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 Walmart stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.37, for a total value of $209,607,941.31. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 630,501,148 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $48,781,873,820.76. The trade was a 0.43 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 12,337,337 shares of company stock worth $958,823,647. Company insiders own 45.58% of the company’s stock.

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.