Savant Capital LLC Purchases 8,397 Shares of Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)

Savant Capital LLC grew its holdings in shares of Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) by 4.0% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 219,660 shares of the retailer’s stock after acquiring an additional 8,397 shares during the period. Savant Capital LLC’s holdings in Walmart were worth $14,873,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Walmart by 199.4% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 411,745,334 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $24,774,717,000 after purchasing an additional 274,229,968 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its position in Walmart by 181.0% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 56,861,234 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $3,421,342,000 after buying an additional 36,625,314 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in Walmart in the fourth quarter worth approximately $3,674,652,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its position in shares of Walmart by 183.0% during the 1st quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 29,172,985 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,755,339,000 after buying an additional 18,865,484 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Swiss National Bank increased its position in Walmart by 187.4% during the 1st quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 13,303,200 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $800,454,000 after purchasing an additional 8,674,100 shares during the period. 26.76% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently commented on WMT. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Walmart from $75.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 16th. Bank of America raised their price objective on Walmart from $75.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 16th. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on shares of Walmart from $65.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, May 17th. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on shares of Walmart from $78.00 to $80.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, August 22nd. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price target on Walmart from $63.33 to $75.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 17th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $78.99.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Walmart news, major shareholder Alice L. Walton sold 2,375,563 shares of Walmart stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.96, for a total value of $182,823,328.48. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 619,646,544 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $47,687,998,026.24. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, EVP John D. Rainey sold 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.48, for a total value of $232,440.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 384,165 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,765,104.20. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Alice L. Walton sold 2,375,563 shares of Walmart stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.96, for a total value of $182,823,328.48. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 619,646,544 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $47,687,998,026.24. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 10,144,237 shares of company stock worth $730,497,016 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 45.58% of the company’s stock.

Walmart Price Performance

Walmart stock opened at $76.68 on Friday. 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 stock has a market cap of $616.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.82, a PEG ratio of 3.87 and a beta of 0.51. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $71.45 and a 200 day moving average price of $65.38. Walmart Inc. has a 12-month low of $49.85 and a 12-month high of $77.81.

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