Meridian Wealth Management LLC Buys Shares of 144,449 Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)

Meridian Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT - Free Report) during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 144,449 shares of the retailer's stock, valued at approximately $11,678,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Walmart by 1.1% in 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 acquiring an additional 350,881 shares during the period. Oxbow Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Walmart by 45.0% in the third quarter. Oxbow Advisors LLC now owns 28,453 shares of the retailer's stock valued at $2,298,000 after acquiring an additional 8,834 shares during the period. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. boosted its position in shares of Walmart by 21.9% in the third quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 587,001 shares of the retailer's stock valued at $47,400,000 after acquiring an additional 105,430 shares during the period. Whalerock Point Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Walmart by 213.5% in the first quarter. Whalerock Point Partners LLC now owns 29,613 shares of the retailer's stock valued at $1,782,000 after acquiring an additional 20,167 shares during the period. Finally, WFA Asset Management Corp boosted its position in shares of Walmart by 201.0% in the first quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 2,092 shares of the retailer's stock valued at $126,000 after acquiring an additional 1,397 shares during the period. 26.76% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Walmart

In other news, EVP John D. Rainey sold 3,000 shares of Walmart stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.48, for a total transaction of $232,440.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 384,165 shares in the company, valued at $29,765,104.20. The trade was a 0.77 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder S Robson Walton sold 4,057,369 shares of Walmart stock in a transaction on Monday, September 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.20, for a total value of $313,228,886.80. Following the sale, the insider now owns 611,988,318 shares in the company, valued at $47,245,498,149.60. The trade was a 0.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 12,337,337 shares of company stock valued at $958,823,647. 45.58% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on WMT. DA Davidson boosted their target price on shares of Walmart from $75.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, August 16th. Oppenheimer upped their price objective 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. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Walmart from $90.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday. DZ Bank downgraded shares of Walmart from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $91.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Roth Mkm increased their price objective on shares of Walmart from $81.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $91.88.

Walmart Trading Up 2.3 %

Shares of WMT stock traded up $2.05 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $90.44. 23,978,302 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 16,883,234. The firm has a market cap of $726.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.05, a P/E/G ratio of 4.33 and a beta of 0.51. Walmart Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $49.85 and a fifty-two week high of $90.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a quick ratio of 0.22 and a current ratio of 0.85. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $81.92 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $73.54.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 19th. The retailer reported $0.58 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 the consensus estimate of $167.69 billion. Walmart had a net margin of 2.92% and a return on equity of 21.78%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.51 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Walmart Inc. will post 2.47 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.