Highland Capital Management LLC Has $2.30 Million Stock Position in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)

Highland Capital Management LLC grew its position in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) by 7.5% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 28,519 shares of the retailer’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,000 shares during the quarter. Highland Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Walmart were worth $2,303,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Hoese & Co LLP acquired a new stake in Walmart during the third quarter worth $33,000. EntryPoint Capital LLC bought a new position in Walmart during the first quarter worth about $25,000. TruNorth Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Walmart by 138.3% in the 2nd quarter. TruNorth Capital Management LLC now owns 429 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 249 shares during the period. Cultivar Capital Inc. bought a new position in shares of Walmart during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $29,000. Finally, Livelsberger Financial Advisory bought a new position in shares of Walmart during the third quarter valued at $36,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 26.76% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Walmart

In other news, EVP John R. Furner sold 13,125 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $82.96, for a total transaction of $1,088,850.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 593,040 shares in the company, valued at $49,198,598.40. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, major shareholder Alice L. Walton sold 2,709,163 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.37, for a total value of $209,607,941.31. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 630,501,148 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $48,781,873,820.76. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP John R. Furner sold 13,125 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $82.96, for a total transaction of $1,088,850.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 593,040 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $49,198,598.40. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 12,337,337 shares of company stock valued at $958,784,857. Corporate insiders own 45.58% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently commented on the company. Telsey Advisory Group boosted their target price on Walmart from $82.00 to $92.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Roth Mkm lifted their price target on Walmart from $71.00 to $81.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on shares of Walmart from $73.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 16th. Evercore ISI raised their price target on shares of Walmart from $82.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on Walmart from $71.00 to $73.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 13th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Walmart has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $83.51.

Walmart Stock Performance

Shares of Walmart stock opened at $82.51 on Friday. 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 firm has a market cap of $663.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.11 and a beta of 0.51. Walmart Inc. has a one year low of $49.85 and a one year high of $83.34. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $79.09 and its 200-day moving average is $70.40.

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

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.