Montag & Caldwell LLC Buys Shares of 3,000 Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)

Montag & Caldwell LLC purchased a new position in shares of Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 3,000 shares of the retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $203,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. AHL Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Walmart by 192.1% during the first 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 in the last quarter. Core Wealth Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of Walmart by 38.9% in the fourth quarter. Core Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 1,501 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $237,000 after acquiring an additional 420 shares during the last quarter. Liberty Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Walmart in the first quarter worth approximately $270,000. Commerce Bank boosted its position in shares of Walmart by 189.4% in the first quarter. Commerce Bank now owns 917,625 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $55,213,000 after acquiring an additional 600,521 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. boosted its position in shares of Walmart by 290.7% in the first quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 270,065 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $16,250,000 after acquiring an additional 200,947 shares during the last quarter. 26.76% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Walmart Stock Up 1.2 %

Shares of NYSE:WMT opened at $80.60 on Monday. 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 fifty day simple moving average of $72.51 and a 200 day simple moving average of $66.18. The firm has a market cap of $647.88 billion, a PE ratio of 34.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.99 and a beta of 0.51. Walmart Inc. has a 12-month low of $49.85 and a 12-month high of $80.68.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, August 15th. The retailer reported $0.67 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.65 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $169.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $168.56 billion. Walmart had a net margin of 2.34% and a return on equity of 21.72%. The firm’s revenue was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.61 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Walmart Inc. will post 2.44 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Walmart news, CEO C Douglas Mcmillon sold 29,124 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.39, for a total transaction of $1,991,790.36. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,960,402 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $270,851,892.78. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, CEO C Douglas Mcmillon sold 29,124 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.39, for a total value of $1,991,790.36. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 3,960,402 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $270,851,892.78. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder S Robson Walton sold 4,057,369 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.20, for a total transaction of $313,228,886.80. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 611,988,318 shares in the company, valued at approximately $47,245,498,149.60. 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. Company insiders own 45.58% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on shares of Walmart from $74.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, August 16th. HSBC raised their target price on shares of Walmart from $70.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 11th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on shares of Walmart from $73.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 16th. DA Davidson lifted their price target on shares of Walmart from $75.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 16th. Finally, Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $83.00 price target (up from $81.00) on shares of Walmart in a research report on Friday, August 16th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $78.99.

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.