Balentine LLC Sells 630 Shares of Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)

Balentine LLC lowered its position in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) by 6.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 8,612 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 630 shares during the period. Balentine LLC’s holdings in Walmart were worth $778,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Peterson Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of Walmart during the 3rd quarter valued at about $26,000. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Walmart during the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. Voisard Asset Management Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Walmart by 77.3% during the 3rd quarter. Voisard Asset Management Group Inc. now owns 399 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 174 shares during the last quarter. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. bought a new position in shares of Walmart during the 4th quarter valued at about $32,000. Finally, Livelsberger Financial Advisory bought a new position in shares of Walmart during the 3rd quarter valued at about $36,000. Institutional investors own 26.76% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have commented on the stock. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on shares of Walmart from $80.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, November 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Walmart from $97.00 to $112.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday. Guggenheim increased their price target on shares of Walmart from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $105.00 price target on shares of Walmart in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on shares of Walmart from $89.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. 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. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $98.56.

Insider Activity at Walmart

In other news, Director Robert Edward Jr. Moritz bought 5,446 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 27th. The stock was bought at an average cost 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 in the company, valued at approximately $716,577.05. The trade was a 230.86 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO C Douglas Mcmillon sold 29,124 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $91.44, for a total transaction of $2,663,098.56. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 3,814,805 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $348,825,769.20. This trade represents a 0.76 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 175,177 shares of company stock valued at $16,403,728 over the last ninety days. 45.58% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Walmart Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:WMT opened at $103.62 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $832.42 billion, a PE ratio of 42.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.25 and a beta of 0.55. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $94.45 and its 200-day simple moving average is $84.82. Walmart Inc. has a one year low of $55.85 and a one year high of $103.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42, a quick ratio of 0.23 and a current ratio of 0.85.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 19th. The retailer reported $0.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.53 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $169.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $167.69 billion. Walmart had a net margin of 2.92% and a return on equity of 21.78%. Walmart’s revenue was up 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.51 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Walmart Inc. will post 2.48 EPS for the current year.

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.