New Mexico Educational Retirement Board Has $18.71 Million Holdings in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)

New Mexico Educational Retirement Board lessened its stake in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) by 0.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 207,079 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 1,800 shares during the quarter. Walmart accounts for about 0.6% of New Mexico Educational Retirement Board’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 19th biggest holding. New Mexico Educational Retirement Board’s holdings in Walmart were worth $18,710,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Walmart by 3.3% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 87,617,409 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $7,048,465,000 after buying an additional 2,786,061 shares during the period. FMR LLC lifted its position in shares of Walmart by 12.9% in the third 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 in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Walmart by 4.6% in the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 47,659,844 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $3,848,533,000 after purchasing an additional 2,107,197 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its position in shares of Walmart by 3.7% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 41,501,782 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $3,392,658,000 after purchasing an additional 1,480,927 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of 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 in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 26.76% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

WMT has been the topic of a number of research reports. Telsey Advisory Group boosted their price objective on shares of Walmart from $105.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of Walmart from $95.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Walmart from $100.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $115.00 price target (up from $106.00) on shares of Walmart in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Roth Mkm upped their price target on shares of Walmart from $81.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Walmart currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $99.17.

Walmart Trading Down 1.0 %

WMT stock opened at $104.04 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42, a quick ratio of 0.23 and a current ratio of 0.85. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $94.99 and its 200 day simple moving average is $85.33. Walmart Inc. has a 52 week low of $55.99 and a 52 week high of $105.30. The company has a market capitalization of $835.78 billion, a PE ratio of 42.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.25 and a beta of 0.55.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 19th. The retailer reported $0.58 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $169.59 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $167.69 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.51 earnings per share. Walmart’s revenue was up 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Walmart Inc. will post 2.48 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Walmart

In other Walmart news, EVP John D. Rainey sold 38,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $98.80, for a total transaction of $3,754,400.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 257,281 shares in the company, valued at $25,419,362.80. This represents a 12.87 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Robert Edward Jr. Moritz acquired 5,446 shares of Walmart stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 27th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $91.81 per share, for a total transaction of $499,997.26. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 7,805 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $716,577.05. This represents a 230.86 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 175,177 shares of company stock worth $16,403,728. Corporate insiders own 45.58% of the company’s stock.

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.