Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. Cuts Stock Position in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)

Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. cut its position in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT - Free Report) by 10.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 90,529 shares of the retailer's stock after selling 10,471 shares during the quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc.'s holdings in Walmart were worth $8,179,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WMT. Garner Asset Management Corp increased its position in Walmart by 10.0% in the 2nd quarter. Garner Asset Management Corp now owns 45,432 shares of the retailer's stock valued at $3,076,000 after acquiring an additional 4,133 shares during the period. Mittelman Wealth Management purchased a new position in shares of Walmart in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $227,000. WCG Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Walmart by 2.3% in the second quarter. WCG Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 94,503 shares of the retailer's stock valued at $6,399,000 after purchasing an additional 2,134 shares during the period. Delaney Dennis R purchased a new stake in shares of Walmart during the second quarter worth approximately $200,000. Finally, Austin Asset Management Co Inc grew its position in Walmart by 2.4% in the 2nd quarter. Austin Asset Management Co Inc now owns 8,307 shares of the retailer's stock valued at $562,000 after buying an additional 195 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 26.76% of the company's stock.

Walmart Trading Up 0.8 %

Shares of NYSE:WMT traded up $0.72 during trading on Friday, reaching $92.02. The stock had a trading volume of 15,704,056 shares, compared to its average volume of 14,679,707. 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 stock has a market cap of $739.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.76, a PEG ratio of 4.41 and a beta of 0.55. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $91.01 and a 200-day moving average price of $81.10. Walmart Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $53.44 and a fifty-two week high of $96.18.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 19th. The retailer reported $0.58 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.53 by $0.05. Walmart had a return on equity of 21.78% and a net margin of 2.92%. The company had revenue of $169.59 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $167.69 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.51 EPS. Walmart's revenue was up 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that Walmart Inc. will post 2.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO C Douglas Mcmillon sold 29,124 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $82.79, for a total value of $2,411,175.96. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,843,929 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $318,238,881.91. This trade represents a 0.75 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP John R. Furner sold 13,125 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $92.60, for a total value of $1,215,375.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 566,794 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $52,485,124.40. This trade represents a 2.26 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 140,177 shares of company stock worth $12,478,149. 45.58% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have commented on WMT. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on shares of Walmart from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. DZ Bank cut shares of Walmart from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $91.00 price target for the company. in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Barclays lifted their price objective on Walmart from $90.00 to $98.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, January 9th. KeyCorp increased their target price on Walmart from $96.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, Bank of America raised their price target on Walmart from $95.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Walmart has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $94.49.

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.