Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC Acquires New Shares in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)

Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC bought a new stake in shares of Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 179,698 shares of the retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $14,511,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of WMT. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 36,625,314 shares during the period. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board increased its holdings in shares of Walmart by 284.0% in the first quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 11,122,273 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $669,227,000 after purchasing an additional 8,225,552 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of Walmart by 8,814.4% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 6,963,218 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $562,280,000 after buying an additional 6,885,106 shares in the last quarter. BlueSpruce Investments LP boosted its stake in Walmart by 186.6% during the first quarter. BlueSpruce Investments LP now owns 10,332,775 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $621,723,000 after buying an additional 6,727,200 shares during the period. Finally, Boston Partners grew its position in Walmart by 202.5% during the first quarter. Boston Partners now owns 9,431,662 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $567,499,000 after buying an additional 6,314,185 shares in the last quarter. 26.76% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Walmart

In related news, major shareholder Alice L. Walton sold 2,375,563 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 5th. The shares were 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 represents a 0.38 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO C Douglas Mcmillon sold 29,124 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.64, for a total transaction of $2,348,559.36. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 3,873,053 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $312,322,993.92. The trade was a 0.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 12,337,337 shares of company stock valued at $958,823,647. 45.58% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on WMT. Truist Financial raised their target price on shares of Walmart from $89.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Melius Research started coverage on Walmart in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $95.00 target price on the stock. Oppenheimer lifted their price target on Walmart from $81.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on Walmart from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Walmart from $81.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $91.51.

Walmart Price Performance

Shares of WMT stock opened at $87.18 on Thursday. 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 firm has a market cap of $700.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.78, a P/E/G ratio of 4.33 and a beta of 0.51. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $81.75 and its 200-day moving average price is $73.43. Walmart Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $49.85 and a fifty-two week high of $88.29.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 19th. The retailer reported $0.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.53 by $0.05. Walmart had a net margin of 2.92% and a return on equity of 21.78%. The company had revenue of $169.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $167.69 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.51 earnings per share. Walmart’s quarterly revenue was up 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Walmart Inc. will post 2.43 earnings per share for the current year.

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.