Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) Shares Acquired by Banco Santander S.A.

Banco Santander S.A. boosted its position in shares of Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT - Free Report) by 17.1% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 613,189 shares of the retailer's stock after buying an additional 89,763 shares during the quarter. Walmart makes up 0.6% of Banco Santander S.A.'s holdings, making the stock its 24th biggest position. Banco Santander S.A.'s holdings in Walmart were worth $49,515,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its stake in Walmart by 181.0% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 56,861,234 shares of the retailer's stock worth $3,421,342,000 after purchasing an additional 36,625,314 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its holdings in Walmart by 1.8% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 36,282,740 shares of the retailer's stock valued at $2,456,704,000 after acquiring an additional 644,353 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC grew its holdings in shares of Walmart by 479.6% during the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 18,479,259 shares of the retailer's stock worth $1,492,200,000 after purchasing an additional 15,290,936 shares during the period. Raymond James & Associates increased its position in shares of Walmart by 3.0% during the third quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 16,766,325 shares of the retailer's stock valued at $1,353,881,000 after acquiring an additional 484,196 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in Walmart by 5.4% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 16,184,945 shares of the retailer's stock valued at $1,095,946,000 after purchasing an additional 834,005 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 26.76% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

WMT has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Telsey Advisory Group upped their target price on shares of Walmart from $92.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on shares of Walmart from $88.00 to $92.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on Walmart from $73.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, August 16th. UBS Group raised their price target on Walmart from $92.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on Walmart from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $91.49.

Walmart Price Performance

Walmart stock opened at $87.33 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 0.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56. The firm has a market capitalization of $701.98 billion, a PE ratio of 35.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.33 and a beta of 0.51. Walmart Inc. has a 12-month low of $49.85 and a 12-month high of $88.29. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $81.75 and a 200-day moving average price of $73.43.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 19th. The retailer reported $0.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $169.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $167.69 billion. Walmart had a return on equity of 21.78% and a net margin of 2.92%. Walmart's quarterly revenue was up 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.51 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Walmart Inc. will post 2.43 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Walmart news, major shareholder Alice L. Walton sold 2,709,163 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.37, for a total transaction of $209,607,941.31. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 630,501,148 shares in the company, valued at approximately $48,781,873,820.76. This represents a 0.43 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP John R. Furner sold 13,125 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $82.96, for a total transaction of $1,088,850.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 593,040 shares of the company's stock, valued at $49,198,598.40. This represents a 2.17 % decrease in their position. 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.

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.

Want to see what other hedge funds are holding WMT? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT - Free Report).

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.