Thrivent Financial for Lutherans Sells 1,130,953 Shares of Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)

Thrivent Financial for Lutherans decreased its holdings in shares of Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) by 22.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 3,822,954 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 1,130,953 shares during the period. Walmart makes up 0.6% of Thrivent Financial for Lutherans’ holdings, making the stock its 14th largest position. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans’ holdings in Walmart were worth $308,703,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in WMT. Claro Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Walmart by 12.8% during the third quarter. Claro Advisors LLC now owns 42,750 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $3,452,000 after purchasing an additional 4,844 shares during the period. Concord Asset Management LLC VA boosted its holdings in Walmart by 37.6% during the third quarter. Concord Asset Management LLC VA now owns 20,300 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,639,000 after buying an additional 5,547 shares during the last quarter. Peterson Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Walmart during the 3rd quarter worth about $26,000. Tower Bridge Advisors increased its stake in shares of Walmart by 2.6% in the 3rd quarter. Tower Bridge Advisors now owns 90,116 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $7,277,000 after acquiring an additional 2,309 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Accent Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Walmart by 182.6% in the 3rd quarter. Accent Capital Management LLC now owns 20,816 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,681,000 after acquiring an additional 13,451 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 26.76% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Walmart from $81.00 to $92.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 11th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Walmart from $82.00 to $89.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price objective on Walmart from $77.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 16th. StockNews.com raised Walmart from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 16th. Finally, Guggenheim raised their price target on Walmart from $81.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 28th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-eight have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $85.18.

Insider Transactions at Walmart

In other Walmart news, EVP John D. Rainey sold 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.48, for a total transaction of $232,440.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 384,165 shares in the company, valued at $29,765,104.20. This trade represents a 0.77 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Alice L. Walton sold 2,375,563 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 5th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at $47,687,998,026.24. The trade was a 0.38 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 12,337,337 shares of company stock worth $958,823,647. 45.58% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Walmart Stock Performance

Shares of WMT stock opened at $84.25 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $81.29 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $72.88. Walmart Inc. has a one year low of $49.85 and a one year high of $85.79. The stock has a market cap of $677.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.80, a P/E/G ratio of 4.21 and a beta of 0.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.22.

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

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.