Kera Capital Partners Inc. Takes Position in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)

Kera Capital Partners Inc. purchased a new position in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 2,284 shares of the retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $206,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WMT. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Walmart by 3.3% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 87,617,409 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $7,048,465,000 after acquiring an additional 2,786,061 shares during the period. FMR LLC increased its holdings in Walmart by 12.9% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 63,135,639 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $5,098,203,000 after purchasing an additional 7,200,004 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its position in Walmart by 4.6% during the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 47,659,844 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $3,848,533,000 after purchasing an additional 2,107,197 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Walmart by 3.7% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 41,501,782 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $3,392,658,000 after buying an additional 1,480,927 shares during the period. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc lifted its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 644,353 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 26.76% of the company’s stock.

Walmart Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:WMT opened at $92.02 on Monday. Walmart Inc. has a twelve month low of $53.44 and a twelve month high of $96.18. The company has a current ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 0.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42. The company has a market cap 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 company’s 50 day moving average is $91.15 and its 200 day moving average is $81.37.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 19th. The retailer reported $0.58 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $169.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.51 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Walmart Inc. will post 2.47 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Walmart

In other news, 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,843,929 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $318,238,881.91. This represents a 0.75 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, SVP David Chojnowski sold 5,600 shares of Walmart stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $91.45, for a total value of $512,120.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 87,404 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,993,095.80. This represents a 6.02 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 140,177 shares of company stock worth $12,478,149. Insiders own 45.58% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently weighed in on the company. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on Walmart from $83.00 to $93.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, November 18th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on shares of Walmart from $89.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $105.00 price target on shares of Walmart in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Walmart from $96.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 10th. Finally, TD Cowen upped their target price on Walmart from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $94.49.

Walmart 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.