Janney Montgomery Scott LLC Buys 14,501 Shares of Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)

Janney Montgomery Scott LLC raised its stake in shares of Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) by 0.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,388,709 shares of the retailer’s stock after purchasing an additional 14,501 shares during the period. Walmart accounts for approximately 0.6% of Janney Montgomery Scott LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 29th biggest position. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC’s holdings in Walmart were worth $215,820,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in WMT. Jennison Associates LLC grew its holdings in Walmart by 479.6% during the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 18,479,259 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,492,200,000 after buying an additional 15,290,936 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 worth $5,098,203,000 after acquiring an additional 7,200,004 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Walmart by 8,814.4% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 6,963,218 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $562,280,000 after acquiring an additional 6,885,106 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Walmart by 3.3% in 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. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its position in Walmart by 4.6% in the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 47,659,844 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $3,848,533,000 after purchasing an additional 2,107,197 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 26.76% of the company’s stock.

Walmart Trading Up 0.6 %

NYSE WMT opened at $93.75 on Friday. Walmart Inc. has a one year low of $53.44 and a one year high of $96.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42, a quick ratio of 0.23 and a current ratio of 0.85. The company has a market capitalization of $753.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.42 and a beta of 0.55. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $91.62 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $81.87.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 19th. The retailer reported $0.58 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $169.59 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $167.69 billion. Walmart had a net margin of 2.92% and a return on equity of 21.78%. Walmart’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.51 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Walmart Inc. will post 2.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WMT has been the subject of several research reports. Telsey Advisory Group increased their price objective on shares of Walmart from $92.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Oppenheimer increased their price target on shares of Walmart from $81.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, October 14th. Guggenheim boosted their price objective on Walmart from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. Citigroup raised their price objective on Walmart from $75.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on Walmart from $89.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $94.69.

Insider Activity at Walmart

In related news, SVP David Chojnowski sold 5,600 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $91.45, for a total transaction of $512,120.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 87,404 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,993,095.80. This represents a 6.02 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Daniel J. Bartlett sold 1,830 shares of Walmart 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 represents a 0.40 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 97,928 shares of company stock valued at $8,978,123 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.