Premier Path Wealth Partners LLC Grows Holdings in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)

Premier Path Wealth Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) by 9.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 27,346 shares of the retailer’s stock after buying an additional 2,254 shares during the quarter. Premier Path Wealth Partners LLC’s holdings in Walmart were worth $2,471,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in WMT. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Walmart by 3.3% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 87,617,409 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $7,048,465,000 after purchasing an additional 2,786,061 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its holdings in shares of Walmart by 12.9% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 63,135,639 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $5,098,203,000 after buying an additional 7,200,004 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its position in Walmart by 4.6% in the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 47,659,844 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $3,848,533,000 after buying an additional 2,107,197 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its stake in Walmart by 3.7% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 41,501,782 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $3,392,658,000 after buying an additional 1,480,927 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc grew its position in Walmart by 1.8% during the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 36,282,740 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $2,456,704,000 after acquiring an additional 644,353 shares during the last quarter. 26.76% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Guggenheim upped their price objective on shares of Walmart from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Walmart from $92.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on Walmart from $94.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Walmart from $96.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on Walmart from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $94.49.

Insider Transactions at Walmart

In other news, EVP Daniel J. Bartlett sold 1,830 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 15th. The stock was 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 sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO C Douglas Mcmillon sold 29,124 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $82.79, for a total transaction of $2,411,175.96. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,843,929 shares in the company, valued at $318,238,881.91. This trade represents a 0.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 140,177 shares of company stock valued at $12,478,149 in the last ninety days. 45.58% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Walmart Stock Performance

Shares of Walmart stock opened at $92.02 on Friday. Walmart Inc. has a 12 month low of $53.44 and a 12 month high of $96.18. The firm has a market capitalization of $739.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.76, a P/E/G ratio of 4.41 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. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $91.15 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $81.27.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 19th. The retailer reported $0.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 net margin of 2.92% and a return on equity of 21.78%. Walmart’s revenue was up 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.51 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Walmart Inc. will post 2.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.