Certuity LLC Grows Stock Holdings in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)

Certuity LLC lifted its position in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) by 12.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 25,888 shares of the retailer’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,896 shares during the quarter. Certuity LLC’s holdings in Walmart were worth $2,343,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Walmart by 3.3% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 87,617,409 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $7,048,465,000 after purchasing an additional 2,786,061 shares during the period. FMR LLC boosted its position in Walmart by 12.9% during the third 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 during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Walmart by 4.6% during the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 47,659,844 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $3,848,533,000 after buying an additional 2,107,197 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its holdings in shares of 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 during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Walmart by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 31,236,769 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $2,522,369,000 after acquiring an additional 350,881 shares during the last quarter. 26.76% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Walmart Stock Up 1.1 %

Shares of NYSE:WMT opened at $103.62 on Thursday. 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 stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $94.45 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $84.82. Walmart Inc. has a 12-month low of $55.85 and a 12-month high of $103.90. The stock has a market capitalization of $832.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.53, a PEG ratio of 4.25 and a beta of 0.55.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WMT has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Oppenheimer lifted their price target on Walmart from $100.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on shares of Walmart from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Walmart from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Walmart from $97.00 to $112.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday. Finally, KeyCorp upped their price objective on shares of Walmart from $96.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Two 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. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $98.56.

Insider Transactions at Walmart

In other news, EVP Daniel J. Bartlett sold 1,830 shares of the company’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 transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 460,705 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $41,956,404.35. This represents a 0.40 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO C Douglas Mcmillon sold 29,124 shares of Walmart stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $91.44, for a total value of $2,663,098.56. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 3,814,805 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $348,825,769.20. The trade was a 0.76 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 175,177 shares of company stock worth $16,403,728. Corporate insiders own 45.58% of the company’s stock.

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.