Traynor Capital Management Inc. Has $2.21 Million Stock Holdings in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)

Traynor Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) by 6.0% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 24,449 shares of the retailer’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,385 shares during the period. Traynor Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Walmart were worth $2,209,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of WMT. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Walmart by 3.3% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 87,617,409 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $7,048,465,000 after acquiring an additional 2,786,061 shares during the period. FMR LLC lifted 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 last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in Walmart by 4.6% in 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 during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its holdings in Walmart by 3.7% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 41,501,782 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $3,392,658,000 after buying an additional 1,480,927 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc increased 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 worth $2,456,704,000 after buying an additional 644,353 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 26.76% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on shares of Walmart from $105.00 to $111.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on shares of Walmart from $89.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Guggenheim boosted their price target on Walmart from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on Walmart from $94.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Walmart from $96.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $94.69.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Robert Edward Jr. Moritz purchased 5,446 shares of Walmart stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 27th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $91.81 per share, for a total transaction of $499,997.26. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 7,805 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $716,577.05. This trade represents a 230.86 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO C Douglas Mcmillon sold 29,124 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $91.44, for a total value of $2,663,098.56. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,814,805 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $348,825,769.20. The trade was a 0.76 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 97,928 shares of company stock valued at $8,978,123 in the last ninety days. 45.58% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Walmart Stock Performance

Shares of WMT stock opened at $93.75 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42, a current ratio of 0.85 and a quick ratio of 0.23. Walmart Inc. has a one year low of $53.44 and a one year high of $96.18. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $91.62 and its 200 day simple moving average is $81.87. The stock has a market capitalization of $753.12 billion, a PE ratio of 38.47, a PEG ratio of 4.42 and a beta of 0.55.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 19th. The retailer reported $0.58 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.53 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $169.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $167.69 billion. Walmart had a net margin of 2.92% and a return on equity of 21.78%. Walmart’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.51 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Walmart Inc. will post 2.48 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.