Quest Partners LLC Takes $336,000 Position in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)

Quest Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor bought 4,160 shares of the retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $336,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of WMT. EntryPoint Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Walmart during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Peterson Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of Walmart during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $26,000. TruNorth Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Walmart by 138.3% during the 2nd quarter. TruNorth Capital Management LLC now owns 429 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 249 shares during the last quarter. Cultivar Capital Inc. bought a new position in shares of Walmart during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Finally, Kozak & Associates Inc. raised its holdings in Walmart by 216.4% during the 1st quarter. Kozak & Associates Inc. now owns 503 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 344 shares during the period. 26.76% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Walmart Price Performance

Shares of WMT stock opened at $89.45 on Tuesday. Walmart Inc. has a 1-year low of $49.85 and a 1-year high of $90.95. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $82.29 and its 200 day moving average is $74.14. The company has a market cap of $719.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.71, a PEG ratio of 4.29 and a beta of 0.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a current ratio of 0.85 and a quick ratio of 0.23.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 19th. The retailer reported $0.58 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.05. Walmart had a return on equity of 21.78% and a net margin of 2.92%. The company had revenue of $169.59 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $167.69 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.51 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that Walmart Inc. will post 2.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

WMT has been the topic of several recent research reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price target on Walmart from $77.00 to $83.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 16th. KeyCorp increased their price target on Walmart from $88.00 to $96.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. Oppenheimer increased their price target on Walmart from $81.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, October 14th. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on Walmart from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. Finally, Telsey Advisory Group increased their price target on Walmart from $92.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Walmart currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $91.88.

Insider Activity at Walmart

In other Walmart news, EVP Daniel J. Bartlett sold 2,063 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.76, for a total value of $166,607.88. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 459,558 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $37,113,904.08. This trade represents a 0.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Alice L. Walton sold 2,709,163 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owns 630,501,148 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $48,781,873,820.76. This represents a 0.43 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 12,337,337 shares of company stock valued at $958,823,647 over the last quarter. 45.58% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.