Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. Has $2.52 Billion Stock Holdings in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)

Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT - Free Report) by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 31,236,769 shares of the retailer's stock after acquiring an additional 350,881 shares during the quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. owned about 0.39% of Walmart worth $2,522,369,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its position in shares of Walmart by 181.0% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 56,861,234 shares of the retailer's stock valued at $3,421,342,000 after purchasing an additional 36,625,314 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc raised its holdings in Walmart by 1.8% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 36,282,740 shares of the retailer's stock worth $2,456,704,000 after acquiring an additional 644,353 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its holdings in Walmart by 479.6% during the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 18,479,259 shares of the retailer's stock valued at $1,492,200,000 after acquiring an additional 15,290,936 shares during the period. Raymond James & Associates boosted its holdings in 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 period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in Walmart by 5.4% during 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 acquiring an additional 834,005 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 26.76% of the company's stock.

Walmart Trading Up 1.3 %

WMT traded up $1.14 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $88.32. 14,320,511 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 16,851,820. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $709.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.25, a PEG ratio of 4.33 and a beta of 0.51. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $81.92 and its 200 day simple moving average is $73.54. Walmart Inc. has a one year low of $49.85 and a one year high of $88.64.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, November 19th. The retailer reported $0.58 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.53 by $0.05. The firm 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 business's quarterly revenue was up 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.51 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Walmart Inc. will post 2.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Daniel J. Bartlett sold 2,063 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.76, for a total transaction of $166,607.88. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 459,558 shares of the company's stock, valued at $37,113,904.08. This represents a 0.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Alice L. Walton sold 2,709,163 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.37, for a total value of $209,607,941.31. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 630,501,148 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $48,781,873,820.76. The trade was a 0.43 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 12,337,337 shares of company stock worth $958,823,647 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 45.58% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently commented on WMT shares. Evercore ISI upped their target price on Walmart from $66.00 to $89.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday. KeyCorp increased their price objective on shares of Walmart from $88.00 to $96.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday. Telsey Advisory Group upped their target price on shares of Walmart from $92.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on shares of Walmart from $77.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, August 16th. Finally, Redburn Atlantic raised Walmart to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Monday, September 23rd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $91.49.

Walmart Company 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.