Meridian Investment Counsel Inc. Decreases Position in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)

Meridian Investment Counsel Inc. reduced its stake in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 58,573 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 1,376 shares during the period. Walmart accounts for about 1.4% of Meridian Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 12th biggest position. Meridian Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Walmart were worth $4,730,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WMT. Coastline Trust Co raised its stake in Walmart by 50.5% during the 3rd quarter. Coastline Trust Co now owns 35,352 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $2,855,000 after acquiring an additional 11,857 shares in the last quarter. Gouws Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Walmart during the third quarter worth about $202,000. Archer Investment Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Walmart by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter. Archer Investment Corp now owns 28,970 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $2,339,000 after purchasing an additional 651 shares during the last quarter. Empirical Finance LLC boosted its position in shares of Walmart by 2.4% in the 3rd quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 146,589 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $11,837,000 after purchasing an additional 3,387 shares during the period. Finally, Signature Estate & Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Walmart by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Signature Estate & Investment Advisors LLC now owns 849,801 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $68,621,000 after purchasing an additional 2,926 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 26.76% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Redburn Atlantic raised shares of Walmart to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. Guggenheim lifted their price target on shares of Walmart from $81.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 28th. BMO Capital Markets restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $80.00 price target on shares of Walmart in a report on Friday, August 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on Walmart from $73.00 to $81.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 16th. Finally, DA Davidson boosted their target price on Walmart from $75.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-eight have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $85.18.

Walmart Price Performance

Shares of NYSE WMT opened at $84.27 on Friday. Walmart Inc. has a 1-year low of $49.85 and a 1-year high of $85.79. The firm has a market capitalization of $677.38 billion, a PE ratio of 43.81, a P/E/G ratio of 4.22 and a beta of 0.51. 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 business’s fifty day moving average price is $81.29 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $72.78.

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

Insider Transactions at Walmart

In related news, EVP John D. Rainey sold 3,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $82.12, for a total transaction of $246,360.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 378,165 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $31,054,909.80. The trade was a 0.79 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder S Robson Walton sold 4,057,369 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.20, for a total transaction of $313,228,886.80. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 611,988,318 shares in the company, valued at approximately $47,245,498,149.60. This represents a 0.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 12,337,337 shares of company stock valued at $958,823,647. Corporate 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.