Plato Investment Management Ltd Purchases 397 Shares of Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)

Plato Investment Management Ltd raised its position in shares of Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) by 0.4% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 97,329 shares of the retailer’s stock after purchasing an additional 397 shares during the period. Walmart makes up approximately 0.6% of Plato Investment Management Ltd’s holdings, making the stock its 25th largest holding. Plato Investment Management Ltd’s holdings in Walmart were worth $7,851,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Oxbow Advisors LLC grew its position in Walmart by 45.0% during the 3rd quarter. Oxbow Advisors LLC now owns 28,453 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $2,298,000 after acquiring an additional 8,834 shares during the last quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Walmart by 21.9% in the third quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 587,001 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $47,400,000 after purchasing an additional 105,430 shares during the last quarter. Whalerock Point Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Walmart by 213.5% in the first quarter. Whalerock Point Partners LLC now owns 29,613 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,782,000 after purchasing an additional 20,167 shares during the last quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp increased its stake in shares of Walmart by 201.0% in the first quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 2,092 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $126,000 after buying an additional 1,397 shares during the period. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in Walmart by 14.9% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 6,235,504 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $503,517,000 after buying an additional 809,352 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 26.76% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WMT has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Telsey Advisory Group reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $92.00 target price on shares of Walmart in a research note on Wednesday. Tigress Financial raised their price target on Walmart from $75.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. KeyCorp lifted their price target on shares of Walmart from $87.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of Walmart from $75.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 16th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on shares of Walmart from $71.00 to $73.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-eight have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $84.84.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, major shareholder Alice L. Walton sold 2,709,163 shares of Walmart stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.37, for a total transaction of $209,607,941.31. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 630,501,148 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $48,781,873,820.76. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Walmart news, EVP John R. Furner sold 13,125 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 593,040 shares in the company, valued at approximately $49,198,598.40. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Alice L. Walton sold 2,709,163 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.37, for a total value of $209,607,941.31. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 630,501,148 shares in the company, valued at $48,781,873,820.76. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 12,337,337 shares of company stock worth $958,823,647 over the last quarter. 45.58% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Walmart Stock Up 0.6 %

WMT opened at $85.54 on Thursday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $80.82 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $72.44. The company has a market capitalization of $687.59 billion, a PE ratio of 44.47, a PEG ratio of 4.25 and a beta of 0.51. Walmart Inc. has a 1-year low of $49.85 and a 1-year high of $85.79. 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 announced its earnings results on Thursday, August 15th. The retailer reported $0.67 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.65 by $0.02. Walmart had a return on equity of 21.72% and a net margin of 2.34%. The company had revenue of $169.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $168.56 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.61 EPS. Walmart’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Walmart Inc. will post 2.44 EPS for the current year.

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.