Grimes & Company Inc. Purchases 528 Shares of Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)

Grimes & Company Inc. boosted its position in shares of Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) by 3.6% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 15,055 shares of the retailer’s stock after purchasing an additional 528 shares during the period. Grimes & Company Inc.’s holdings in Walmart were worth $1,216,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Walmart by 199.4% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 411,745,334 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $24,774,717,000 after purchasing an additional 274,229,968 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its holdings in shares of Walmart by 181.0% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 56,861,234 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $3,421,342,000 after acquiring an additional 36,625,314 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc grew 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 valued at $2,456,704,000 after acquiring an additional 644,353 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates grew its holdings in shares of Walmart by 3.0% in the 3rd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 16,766,325 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,353,881,000 after acquiring an additional 484,196 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of Walmart by 5.4% in 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 acquiring an additional 834,005 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 26.76% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

WMT has been the subject of several analyst reports. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on Walmart from $82.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday. Telsey Advisory Group raised their price objective on Walmart from $82.00 to $92.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on Walmart from $71.00 to $73.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 13th. Roth Mkm raised their price objective on Walmart from $71.00 to $81.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 16th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Walmart from $81.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, September 23rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Walmart currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $83.51.

Insider Activity at Walmart

In related news, CEO C Douglas Mcmillon sold 29,124 shares of Walmart stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.64, for a total value of $2,348,559.36. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,873,053 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $312,322,993.92. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In related news, CEO C Douglas Mcmillon sold 29,124 shares of Walmart stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.64, for a total value of $2,348,559.36. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,873,053 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $312,322,993.92. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Daniel J. Bartlett sold 2,065 shares of Walmart stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.69, for a total transaction of $166,624.85. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 457,493 shares in the company, valued at $36,915,110.17. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 12,295,088 shares of company stock valued at $955,284,831 over the last three months. 45.58% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Walmart Stock Down 0.3 %

NYSE WMT opened at $83.05 on Friday. 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 Inc. has a 1-year low of $49.85 and a 1-year high of $83.34. The company has a 50 day moving average of $78.71 and a 200-day moving average of $70.08. The company has a market cap of $667.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.18, a PEG ratio of 4.11 and a beta of 0.51.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last released its quarterly earnings results 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 company had revenue of $169.30 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $168.56 billion. Walmart had a net margin of 2.34% and a return on equity of 21.72%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.61 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Walmart Inc. will post 2.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.