Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) Shares Sold by Louisiana State Employees Retirement System

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System trimmed its stake in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) by 4.5% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 233,500 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 11,000 shares during the quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System’s holdings in Walmart were worth $21,097,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Peterson Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Walmart in the 3rd quarter worth about $26,000. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in Walmart during the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,000. Voisard Asset Management Group Inc. raised its holdings in Walmart by 77.3% in the third quarter. Voisard Asset Management Group Inc. now owns 399 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 174 shares during the period. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. acquired a new position in Walmart during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Finally, Livelsberger Financial Advisory purchased a new stake in Walmart during the third quarter worth approximately $36,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 26.76% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Walmart

In other Walmart news, EVP John D. Rainey sold 38,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $98.80, for a total transaction of $3,754,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 257,281 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $25,419,362.80. The trade was a 12.87 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Robert Edward Jr. Moritz purchased 5,446 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 27th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $91.81 per share, for a total transaction of $499,997.26. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 7,805 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $716,577.05. This trade represents a 230.86 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 175,177 shares of company stock worth $16,403,728. Insiders own 45.58% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently commented on WMT. Bank of America raised their target price on shares of Walmart from $95.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. Roth Mkm raised their price objective on Walmart from $81.00 to $97.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on Walmart from $80.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on Walmart from $89.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, StockNews.com cut Walmart from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $98.56.

Walmart Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE WMT opened at $103.62 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.23, a current ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $94.45 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $84.82. Walmart Inc. has a 52-week low of $55.85 and a 52-week high of $103.90. The stock has a market capitalization of $832.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.53, a P/E/G ratio of 4.25 and a beta of 0.55.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last announced 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 business had revenue of $169.59 billion for 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 business’s revenue was up 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.51 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Walmart Inc. will post 2.48 earnings per share for the current year.

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.