Columbus Macro LLC Trims Position in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)

Columbus Macro LLC decreased its holdings in shares of Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) by 2.1% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 16,491 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 346 shares during the quarter. Columbus Macro LLC’s holdings in Walmart were worth $1,328,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Walmart by 199.4% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 411,745,334 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $24,774,717,000 after purchasing an additional 274,229,968 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its stake in 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 buying an additional 36,625,314 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank lifted its stake in shares of Walmart by 187.4% in the 1st quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 13,303,200 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $800,454,000 after acquiring an additional 8,674,100 shares during the period. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board lifted its stake in shares of Walmart by 284.0% in the 1st quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 11,122,273 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $669,227,000 after acquiring an additional 8,225,552 shares during the period. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Walmart by 184.1% in the first quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 12,567,533 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $756,188,000 after acquiring an additional 8,144,393 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 26.76% of the company’s stock.

Walmart Trading Up 0.5 %

WMT stock traded up $0.42 on Friday, hitting $81.31. 12,324,148 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 14,648,294. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.22. The stock has a market capitalization of $653.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.07 and a beta of 0.51. Walmart Inc. has a twelve month low of $49.85 and a twelve month high of $81.82. The business’s fifty day moving average is $77.90 and its two-hundred day moving average is $69.61.

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently commented on WMT. Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of Walmart from $75.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Walmart from $81.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 16th. Tigress Financial upped their target price on shares of Walmart from $75.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. DA Davidson upped their price target on Walmart from $75.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 16th. Finally, Citigroup upped their target price on Walmart from $75.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-eight have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $82.96.

Insider Activity at Walmart

In related news, major shareholder S Robson Walton sold 4,057,369 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.20, for a total transaction of $313,228,886.80. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 611,988,318 shares in the company, valued at $47,245,498,149.60. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Walmart news, major shareholder S Robson Walton sold 4,057,369 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.20, for a total value of $313,228,886.80. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 611,988,318 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $47,245,498,149.60. 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 at this link. Also, major shareholder Alice L. Walton sold 2,709,163 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 630,501,148 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $48,781,873,820.76. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 12,337,337 shares of company stock valued at $958,267,901. Corporate insiders own 45.58% of the company’s stock.

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.