Northwest Bancshares Inc. Has $9.01 Million Position in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)

Northwest Bancshares Inc. cut its holdings in shares of Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT - Free Report) by 16.7% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 111,526 shares of the retailer's stock after selling 22,349 shares during the period. Walmart accounts for approximately 1.5% of Northwest Bancshares Inc.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 6th biggest holding. Northwest Bancshares Inc.'s holdings in Walmart were worth $9,006,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Peterson Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in Walmart during the third quarter worth $26,000. Voisard Asset Management Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Walmart by 77.3% in the third quarter. Voisard Asset Management Group Inc. now owns 399 shares of the retailer's stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 174 shares during the period. Hoese & Co LLP purchased a new stake in shares of Walmart during the third quarter worth approximately $33,000. EntryPoint Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Walmart in the 1st quarter valued at about $25,000. Finally, TruNorth Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Walmart by 138.3% during the 2nd quarter. TruNorth Capital Management LLC now owns 429 shares of the retailer's stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 249 shares in the last quarter. 26.76% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Walmart Stock Up 0.4 %

Walmart stock traded up $0.34 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $86.94. The stock had a trading volume of 10,339,813 shares, compared to its average volume of 16,808,676. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.22. The company has a market cap of $698.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.05, a PEG ratio of 4.19 and a beta of 0.51. The business's 50 day moving average price is $81.58 and its 200-day moving average price is $73.34. Walmart Inc. has a 52 week low of $49.85 and a 52 week high of $88.29.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 19th. The retailer reported $0.58 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.53 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $169.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $167.69 billion. Walmart had a return on equity of 21.72% and a net margin of 2.34%. Walmart's quarterly revenue was up 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.51 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Walmart Inc. will post 2.44 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WMT has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on shares of Walmart from $73.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, August 16th. KeyCorp boosted their target price on Walmart from $88.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on Walmart from $80.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday. Telsey Advisory Group upped their price objective on shares of Walmart from $92.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Tigress Financial upped their price target on shares of Walmart from $75.00 to $86.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-eight have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $91.51.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Walmart news, EVP John R. Furner sold 13,125 shares of Walmart stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $82.96, for a total value of $1,088,850.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 593,040 shares in the company, valued at $49,198,598.40. The trade was a 2.17 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, major shareholder Alice L. Walton sold 2,375,563 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.96, for a total transaction of $182,823,328.48. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 619,646,544 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $47,687,998,026.24. This trade represents a 0.38 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 12,337,337 shares of company stock valued at $958,823,647 in the last three months. 45.58% of the stock is owned by corporate 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.