LVW Advisors LLC Trims Stake in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)

LVW Advisors LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) by 4.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 23,647 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 1,042 shares during the quarter. LVW Advisors LLC’s holdings in Walmart were worth $2,136,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in WMT. Peterson Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Walmart in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $26,000. Voisard Asset Management Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Walmart by 77.3% in the 3rd 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. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. purchased a new stake in Walmart in the fourth quarter worth $32,000. Hoese & Co LLP bought a new position in Walmart in the third quarter worth $33,000. Finally, Livelsberger Financial Advisory purchased a new position in Walmart during the third quarter valued at $36,000. Institutional investors own 26.76% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. Oppenheimer increased their target price on Walmart from $81.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 14th. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Walmart from $92.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. Bank of America increased their price target on shares of Walmart from $95.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Walmart from $89.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. Finally, Tigress Financial upped their target price on shares of Walmart from $86.00 to $115.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Two investment 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’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $94.49.

Insider Activity at Walmart

In other news, EVP John R. Furner sold 13,125 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $92.60, for a total value of $1,215,375.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 566,794 shares in the company, valued at $52,485,124.40. The trade was a 2.26 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO C Douglas Mcmillon sold 29,124 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $82.79, for a total transaction of $2,411,175.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,843,929 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $318,238,881.91. The trade was a 0.75 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 140,177 shares of company stock valued at $12,478,149. 45.58% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Walmart Stock Up 0.8 %

WMT opened at $92.02 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $739.19 billion, a PE ratio of 37.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.41 and a beta of 0.55. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $91.15 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $81.46. The company has a quick ratio of 0.23, a current ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42. Walmart Inc. has a 52 week low of $53.44 and a 52 week high of $96.18.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 19th. The retailer reported $0.58 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.05. Walmart had a return on equity of 21.78% and a net margin of 2.92%. The company had revenue of $169.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $167.69 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.51 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Walmart Inc. will post 2.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.