Ridgecrest Wealth Partners LLC Sells 2,100 Shares of Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)

Ridgecrest Wealth Partners LLC cut its stake in shares of Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) by 25.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 6,314 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 2,100 shares during the quarter. Ridgecrest Wealth Partners LLC’s holdings in Walmart were worth $570,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its stake in shares of Walmart by 479.6% in the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 18,479,259 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,492,200,000 after acquiring an additional 15,290,936 shares during the period. FMR LLC boosted its stake in Walmart by 12.9% in the 3rd 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 during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in Walmart by 8,814.4% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 6,963,218 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $562,280,000 after purchasing an additional 6,885,106 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Walmart by 3.3% during the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of Walmart by 4.6% during the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 47,659,844 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $3,848,533,000 after buying an additional 2,107,197 shares during the last quarter. 26.76% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Walmart Trading Down 0.0 %

NYSE:WMT opened at $97.36 on Wednesday. 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 firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $92.29 and a 200-day simple moving average of $82.49. Walmart Inc. has a one year low of $54.51 and a one year high of $97.84. The firm has a market cap of $782.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.96, a P/E/G ratio of 4.42 and a beta of 0.55.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, November 19th. The retailer reported $0.58 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.05. Walmart had a return on equity of 21.78% and a net margin of 2.92%. The company had revenue of $169.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $167.69 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.51 earnings per share. Walmart’s revenue was up 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts anticipate that Walmart Inc. will post 2.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Walmart

In other news, EVP Daniel J. Bartlett sold 1,830 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $91.07, for a total value of $166,658.10. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 460,705 shares in the company, valued at approximately $41,956,404.35. This trade represents a 0.40 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP David Chojnowski sold 5,600 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $91.45, for a total transaction of $512,120.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 87,404 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,993,095.80. This trade represents a 6.02 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 140,177 shares of company stock valued at $12,895,688 over the last quarter. 45.58% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on WMT shares. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $105.00 target price on shares of Walmart in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on Walmart from $81.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their target price on Walmart from $98.00 to $102.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. KeyCorp raised their price target on Walmart from $96.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, DZ Bank cut Walmart from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $91.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Two investment 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, Walmart currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $94.69.

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.