Rehmann Capital Advisory Group Decreases Stock Holdings in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)

Rehmann Capital Advisory Group cut its holdings in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) by 7.4% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 72,298 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 5,790 shares during the period. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group’s holdings in Walmart were worth $5,847,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Walmart by 3.3% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 87,617,409 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $7,048,465,000 after buying an additional 2,786,061 shares during the period. FMR LLC boosted its stake in shares of Walmart by 12.9% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 63,135,639 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $5,098,203,000 after purchasing an additional 7,200,004 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in Walmart by 4.6% during the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 47,659,844 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $3,848,533,000 after purchasing an additional 2,107,197 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its stake in Walmart by 1.8% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 36,282,740 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $2,456,704,000 after purchasing an additional 644,353 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Walmart by 1.1% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 31,236,769 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $2,522,369,000 after buying an additional 350,881 shares during the period. 26.76% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on WMT. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Walmart from $89.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Walmart from $75.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Evercore ISI raised their target price on shares of Walmart from $94.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Walmart from $92.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on Walmart from $73.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 16th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $92.27.

Walmart Stock Performance

NYSE:WMT opened at $94.57 on Wednesday. Walmart Inc. has a twelve month low of $49.85 and a twelve month high of $96.18. The firm has a market capitalization of $759.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.81, a PEG ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.54. 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 firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $85.00 and its 200 day simple moving average is $76.28.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, November 19th. The retailer reported $0.58 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.53 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $169.59 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $167.69 billion. Walmart had a return on equity of 21.78% and a net margin of 2.92%. The company’s revenue was up 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.51 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Walmart Inc. will post 2.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, major shareholder S Robson Walton sold 1,804,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $79.18, for a total value of $142,840,720.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 605,979,318 shares in the company, valued at approximately $47,981,442,399.24. The trade was a 0.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Robert Edward Jr. Moritz acquired 5,446 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 27th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $91.81 per share, for a total transaction of $499,997.26. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 7,805 shares in the company, valued at $716,577.05. The trade was a 230.86 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have sold 3,243,091 shares of company stock worth $257,591,179 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 45.58% of the company’s stock.

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.