Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV Boosts Holdings in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)

Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV boosted its position in shares of Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) by 3.0% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 2,214,990 shares of the retailer’s stock after purchasing an additional 65,048 shares during the quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV’s holdings in Walmart were worth $149,977,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. E Fund Management Co. Ltd. lifted its position in Walmart by 15.3% during the second quarter. E Fund Management Co. Ltd. now owns 28,002 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,896,000 after acquiring an additional 3,719 shares during the last quarter. Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT lifted its position in Walmart by 4.8% during the second quarter. Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT now owns 202,427 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $13,706,000 after acquiring an additional 9,275 shares during the last quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in Walmart by 19.8% during the second quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC now owns 263,911 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $17,869,000 after acquiring an additional 43,642 shares during the last quarter. Perennial Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in Walmart by 4.4% during the second quarter. Perennial Investment Advisors LLC now owns 15,202 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,029,000 after acquiring an additional 640 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Yarger Wealth Strategies LLC acquired a new position in Walmart during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $212,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 26.76% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Walmart

In related news, major shareholder Jim C. Walton sold 934,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.46, for a total transaction of $74,215,640.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 610,843,318 shares in the company, valued at $48,537,610,048.28. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, major shareholder Jim C. Walton sold 934,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.46, for a total transaction of $74,215,640.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 610,843,318 shares in the company, valued at $48,537,610,048.28. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Daniel J. Bartlett sold 2,398 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.50, for a total transaction of $166,661.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 463,871 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $32,239,034.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 10,203,360 shares of company stock valued at $788,678,803. Corporate insiders own 45.58% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the stock. KeyCorp upped their price target on shares of Walmart from $75.00 to $82.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Walmart from $75.00 to $82.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 16th. Tigress Financial upped their price target on shares of Walmart from $75.00 to $86.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Walmart from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 16th. Finally, Telsey Advisory Group upped their price target on shares of Walmart from $75.00 to $82.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, August 16th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Walmart currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $78.99.

Walmart Stock Performance

NYSE:WMT opened at $78.62 on Wednesday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $72.90 and its 200-day moving average price is $66.48. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46. The company has a market cap of $631.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.65, a P/E/G ratio of 4.03 and a beta of 0.51. Walmart Inc. has a twelve month low of $49.85 and a twelve month high of $81.02.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 15th. The retailer reported $0.67 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.65 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $169.30 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $168.56 billion. Walmart had a net margin of 2.34% and a return on equity of 21.72%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.61 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Walmart Inc. will post 2.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.