Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) Holdings Trimmed by Principal Financial Group Inc.

Principal Financial Group Inc. lowered its position in shares of Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT - Free Report) by 2.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 6,104,945 shares of the retailer's stock after selling 130,559 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned about 0.08% of Walmart worth $551,582,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of WMT. Peterson Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in Walmart in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $26,000. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Walmart in the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,000. Voisard Asset Management Group Inc. boosted its holdings in 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 acquiring an additional 174 shares during the period. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. purchased a new position in Walmart in the 4th quarter worth approximately $32,000. Finally, Livelsberger Financial Advisory purchased a new position in Walmart in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $36,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 26.76% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at Walmart

In related news, CEO C Douglas Mcmillon sold 29,124 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $91.44, for a total transaction of $2,663,098.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 3,814,805 shares of the company's stock, valued at $348,825,769.20. This trade represents a 0.76 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP John D. Rainey sold 38,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $98.80, for a total value of $3,754,400.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 257,281 shares of the company's stock, valued at $25,419,362.80. This represents a 12.87 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 175,177 shares of company stock valued at $16,403,728. 45.58% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on WMT shares. Evercore ISI upped their target price on Walmart from $94.00 to $96.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. TD Cowen upped their target price on Walmart from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. Telsey Advisory Group upped their target price on Walmart from $105.00 to $115.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Tigress Financial upped their target price on Walmart from $86.00 to $115.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, UBS Group upped their target price on Walmart from $100.00 to $113.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Walmart presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $101.87.

Walmart Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:WMT traded up $0.25 on Wednesday, hitting $104.03. The company's stock had a trading volume of 11,937,958 shares, compared to its average volume of 14,903,632. Walmart Inc. has a 12 month low of $57.60 and a 12 month high of $105.30. The company has a market capitalization of $835.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.30 and a beta of 0.55. The stock's 50-day moving average is $95.38 and its two-hundred day moving average is $86.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42, a quick ratio of 0.23 and a current ratio of 0.85.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT - Get Free Report) last released 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. 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 analysts' expectations of $167.69 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.51 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Walmart Inc. will post 2.48 EPS 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.