Penserra Capital Management LLC Trims Stock Position in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)

Penserra Capital Management LLC decreased its stake in shares of Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) by 99.2% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 13,102 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 1,548,225 shares during the period. Penserra Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Walmart were worth $1,056,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Legal & General Group Plc boosted its position in Walmart by 1.8% during the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 36,282,740 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $2,456,704,000 after acquiring an additional 644,353 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in Walmart by 1.1% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 31,236,769 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $2,522,369,000 after purchasing an additional 350,881 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC raised its holdings in Walmart by 479.6% in the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 18,479,259 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,492,200,000 after purchasing an additional 15,290,936 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates lifted its position in Walmart by 3.0% during the third quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 16,766,325 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,353,881,000 after buying an additional 484,196 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in shares of Walmart by 5.4% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 16,184,945 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,095,946,000 after buying an additional 834,005 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 26.76% of the company’s stock.

Walmart Stock Performance

Shares of WMT opened at $91.31 on Wednesday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $82.55 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $74.36. The company has a quick ratio of 0.23, a current ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56. Walmart Inc. has a 52 week low of $49.85 and a 52 week high of $91.88. The stock has a market cap of $733.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.47, a PEG ratio of 4.29 and a beta of 0.51.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, November 19th. The retailer reported $0.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $167.69 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.51 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that Walmart Inc. will post 2.47 EPS for the current year.

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, October 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $82.96, for a total value of $1,088,850.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 593,040 shares in the company, valued at $49,198,598.40. The trade was a 2.17 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder S Robson Walton sold 4,057,369 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owns 611,988,318 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $47,245,498,149.60. This trade represents a 0.66 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 12,337,337 shares of company stock worth $958,823,647. 45.58% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

WMT has been the topic of several research reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on shares of Walmart from $77.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 16th. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on Walmart from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on shares of Walmart from $88.00 to $92.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, November 18th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on shares of Walmart from $73.00 to $81.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 16th. Finally, DZ Bank downgraded shares of Walmart from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $91.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Two 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. According to MarketBeat, Walmart has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $91.88.

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.