Commerce Bank Increases Stock Position in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)

Commerce Bank grew its stake in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) by 0.3% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 934,302 shares of the retailer’s stock after buying an additional 2,446 shares during the quarter. Commerce Bank’s holdings in Walmart were worth $75,445,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Peterson Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in Walmart in the third quarter valued at $26,000. Voisard Asset Management Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Walmart by 77.3% in the 3rd quarter. Voisard Asset Management Group Inc. now owns 399 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 174 shares in the last quarter. Hoese & Co LLP bought a new position in shares of Walmart during the 3rd quarter valued at about $33,000. EntryPoint Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Walmart during the 1st quarter valued at about $25,000. Finally, TruNorth Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Walmart by 138.3% in the 2nd quarter. TruNorth Capital Management LLC now owns 429 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 249 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 26.76% of the company’s stock.

Walmart Price Performance

WMT opened at $86.60 on Wednesday. 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 market cap of $696.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.19 and a beta of 0.51. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $81.58 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $73.34. Walmart Inc. has a 12-month low of $49.85 and a 12-month high of $88.29.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 19th. The retailer reported $0.58 earnings per share (EPS) 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 analyst estimates of $167.69 billion. Walmart had a net margin of 2.34% and a return on equity of 21.72%. Walmart’s quarterly revenue was up 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.51 EPS. Research analysts predict that Walmart Inc. will post 2.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Daniel J. Bartlett sold 2,063 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.76, for a total transaction of $166,607.88. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 459,558 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $37,113,904.08. This represents a 0.45 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder S Robson Walton sold 4,057,369 shares of Walmart 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 611,988,318 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $47,245,498,149.60. This trade represents a 0.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 12,337,337 shares of company stock worth $958,823,647 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 45.58% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have commented on WMT. Guggenheim increased their price target on shares of Walmart from $81.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 28th. Oppenheimer lifted their target price on shares of Walmart from $81.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, October 14th. TD Cowen boosted their price target on shares of Walmart from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 16th. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on Walmart from $83.00 to $93.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on Walmart from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 15th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-eight have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Walmart has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $86.98.

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.