Miracle Mile Advisors LLC Buys 3,598 Shares of Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)

Miracle Mile Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) by 10.2% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 38,864 shares of the retailer’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,598 shares during the period. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC’s holdings in Walmart were worth $2,631,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. AHL Investment Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Walmart by 192.1% during the 1st quarter. AHL Investment Management Inc. now owns 24,000 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,444,000 after buying an additional 15,785 shares during the period. Valley Brook Capital Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Walmart by 4.2% in the 4th quarter. Valley Brook Capital Group Inc. now owns 7,816 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,232,000 after buying an additional 315 shares during the period. Core Wealth Advisors Inc. raised its stake in Walmart by 38.9% during the 4th quarter. Core Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 1,501 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $237,000 after buying an additional 420 shares during the period. Liberty Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Walmart in the first quarter valued at approximately $270,000. Finally, Commerce Bank raised its position in shares of Walmart by 189.4% during the first quarter. Commerce Bank now owns 917,625 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $55,213,000 after purchasing an additional 600,521 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 26.76% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have weighed in on WMT shares. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and set a $83.00 price objective (up previously from $81.00) on shares of Walmart in a report on Friday. Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on shares of Walmart from $77.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 12th. StockNews.com upgraded Walmart from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday. Citigroup upped their price objective on Walmart from $63.33 to $75.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 17th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price objective on shares of Walmart from $77.00 to $83.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $77.79.

Walmart Trading Up 0.7 %

NYSE:WMT traded up $0.48 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $73.45. 19,872,144 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 17,647,650. The firm has a market capitalization of $590.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.43, a PEG ratio of 3.95 and a beta of 0.50. Walmart Inc. has a 12-month low of $49.85 and a 12-month high of $74.44. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $68.86 and a 200-day moving average price of $63.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.23.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 15th. The retailer reported $0.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.65 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $169.30 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $168.56 billion. Walmart had a net margin of 2.88% and a return on equity of 21.57%. Walmart’s revenue was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.61 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Walmart Inc. will post 2.43 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Walmart news, major shareholder Alice L. Walton sold 1,132,123 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.02, for a total transaction of $73,610,637.46. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 647,371,888 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $42,092,120,157.76. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In related news, major shareholder Alice L. Walton sold 1,132,123 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.02, for a total transaction of $73,610,637.46. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 647,371,888 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $42,092,120,157.76. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO C Douglas Mcmillon sold 29,124 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.23, for a total value of $1,899,758.52. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,989,526 shares in the company, valued at $260,236,780.98. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 11,000,613 shares of company stock valued at $725,932,010 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 45.58% of the company’s stock.

About Walmart

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.