Archer Investment Corp Acquires 651 Shares of Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)

Archer Investment Corp increased its stake in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 28,970 shares of the retailer’s stock after acquiring an additional 651 shares during the period. Archer Investment Corp’s holdings in Walmart were worth $2,339,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. WFA Asset Management Corp lifted its stake in shares of Walmart by 201.0% in the first quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 2,092 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $126,000 after buying an additional 1,397 shares in the last quarter. Dupont Capital Management Corp raised its holdings in shares of Walmart by 165.4% during the first quarter. Dupont Capital Management Corp now owns 270,147 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $16,255,000 after purchasing an additional 168,346 shares during the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC increased its holdings in Walmart by 307.1% in the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 160,292 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $9,645,000 after acquiring an additional 120,919 shares in the last quarter. US Bancorp DE raised its position in shares of Walmart by 192.5% during the 1st quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 6,503,173 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $391,296,000 after buying an additional 4,279,615 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Avantax Advisory Services Inc. increased its position in Walmart by 244.0% during the 1st quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. now owns 476,280 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $28,658,000 after purchasing an additional 337,845 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 26.76% of the company’s stock.

Walmart Stock Performance

Shares of Walmart stock traded up $0.04 on Friday, hitting $84.51. 1,711,752 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 16,641,146. Walmart Inc. has a 1 year low of $49.85 and a 1 year high of $85.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a quick ratio of 0.22 and a current ratio of 0.80. The stock has a market capitalization of $679.31 billion, a PE ratio of 43.94, a PEG ratio of 4.27 and a beta of 0.51. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $81.14 and a 200-day simple moving average of $72.62.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 15th. The retailer reported $0.67 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.65 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $169.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $168.56 billion. Walmart had a return on equity of 21.72% and a net margin of 2.34%. The company’s revenue was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.61 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Walmart Inc. will post 2.44 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WMT has been the subject of several analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on Walmart from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. KeyCorp upped their target price on Walmart from $87.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of Walmart from $82.00 to $89.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Walmart from $88.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $80.00 price target on shares of Walmart in a research report on Friday, August 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $84.84.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP John D. Rainey sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.48, for a total value of $232,440.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 384,165 shares in the company, valued at $29,765,104.20. This trade represents a 0.77 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, major shareholder S Robson Walton sold 4,057,369 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.20, for a total value of $313,228,886.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 611,988,318 shares in the company, valued at $47,245,498,149.60. This represents a 0.66 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 12,337,337 shares of company stock valued at $958,823,647. 45.58% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.