Sovran Advisors LLC Purchases New Holdings in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)

Sovran Advisors LLC bought a new position in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 16,914 shares of the retailer's stock, valued at approximately $1,536,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of WMT. Redhawk Wealth Advisors Inc. increased its stake in Walmart by 7.3% in the third quarter. Redhawk Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 12,538 shares of the retailer's stock valued at $1,012,000 after acquiring an additional 854 shares during the period. Creative Planning boosted its holdings in Walmart by 4.9% during the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 1,800,743 shares of the retailer's stock valued at $142,973,000 after purchasing an additional 83,376 shares in the last quarter. Allen Mooney & Barnes Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Walmart by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. Allen Mooney & Barnes Investment Advisors LLC now owns 45,765 shares of the retailer's stock valued at $3,695,000 after purchasing an additional 298 shares during the period. Cliftonlarsonallen Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Walmart by 5.2% in the 3rd quarter. Cliftonlarsonallen Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 17,448 shares of the retailer's stock valued at $1,409,000 after purchasing an additional 866 shares during the period. Finally, Occidental Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Walmart by 5.0% in the 3rd quarter. Occidental Asset Management LLC now owns 69,085 shares of the retailer's stock worth $5,579,000 after buying an additional 3,278 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 26.76% of the company's stock.

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Walmart Trading Down 1.0 %

Shares of Walmart stock traded down $1.01 on Friday, hitting $104.04. 14,096,845 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 15,084,413. Walmart Inc. has a one year low of $55.99 and a one year high of $105.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42, a current ratio of 0.85 and a quick ratio of 0.23. The stock has a market capitalization of $835.78 billion, a PE ratio of 42.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.25 and a beta of 0.55. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $94.99 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $85.33.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT - Get Free Report) last released its 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 firm had revenue of $169.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $167.69 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.51 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was up 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Walmart Inc. will post 2.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Walmart

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have weighed in on WMT. Barclays upped their price target on Walmart from $98.00 to $108.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday. DZ Bank lowered shares of Walmart from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $91.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Thursday, November 21st. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Walmart from $100.00 to $113.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on shares of Walmart from $94.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Finally, Guggenheim lifted their target price on shares of Walmart from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Walmart currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $99.17.

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.