Mount Yale Investment Advisors LLC Trims Position in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)

Mount Yale Investment Advisors LLC lowered its holdings in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) by 23.1% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 13,117 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 3,948 shares during the period. Mount Yale Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Walmart were worth $1,059,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WMT. EntryPoint Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Walmart during the 1st quarter worth about $25,000. TruNorth Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Walmart by 138.3% during the second quarter. TruNorth Capital Management LLC now owns 429 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 249 shares during the period. Cultivar Capital Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Walmart in the 2nd quarter valued at $29,000. FSA Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Walmart by 253.0% during the 1st quarter. FSA Wealth Management LLC now owns 526 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 377 shares during the period. Finally, Kozak & Associates Inc. raised its position in shares of Walmart by 216.4% in the 1st quarter. Kozak & Associates Inc. now owns 503 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 344 shares during the period. 26.76% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have commented on WMT. Evercore ISI upped their price target on Walmart from $82.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Sanford C. Bernstein started coverage on shares of Walmart in a research report on Tuesday. They set an “outperform” rating and a $95.00 price target on the stock. DA Davidson increased their price objective on shares of Walmart from $75.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 16th. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Walmart from $66.00 to $78.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, August 16th. Finally, Bank of America increased their price target on Walmart from $75.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 16th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Walmart presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $83.51.

Walmart Price Performance

Shares of NYSE WMT opened at $82.51 on Friday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $78.91 and a 200-day simple moving average of $70.17. Walmart Inc. has a twelve month low of $49.85 and a twelve month high of $83.34. The company has a market capitalization of $663.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.11 and a beta of 0.51. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Walmart

In other news, EVP John D. Rainey sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.19, for a total transaction of $207,570.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 387,165 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,787,946.35. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Walmart news, EVP John D. Rainey sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.19, for a total value of $207,570.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 387,165 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,787,946.35. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP John R. Furner sold 13,125 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $82.96, for a total transaction of $1,088,850.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 593,040 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $49,198,598.40. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 12,337,337 shares of company stock worth $958,784,857 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 45.58% of the company’s stock.

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.