Alesco Advisors LLC Makes New Investment in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)

Alesco Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 2,931 shares of the retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $237,000.

Several other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in WMT. Cerity Partners LLC raised its stake in Walmart by 7.8% in the third quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 1,733,519 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $139,982,000 after purchasing an additional 124,730 shares in the last quarter. Optivise Advisory Services LLC acquired a new position in shares of Walmart in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $467,000. Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Walmart by 15.9% during the 3rd quarter. Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. now owns 217,229 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $17,541,000 after acquiring an additional 29,727 shares during the period. Nicolet Advisory Services LLC boosted its position in shares of Walmart by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. Nicolet Advisory Services LLC now owns 45,330 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $3,646,000 after acquiring an additional 755 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Meridian Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Walmart in the third quarter valued at approximately $11,678,000. 26.76% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WMT has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their target price on Walmart from $77.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 16th. Barclays boosted their target price on Walmart from $78.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Walmart from $89.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on shares of Walmart from $73.00 to $81.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 16th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Walmart from $81.00 to $83.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 16th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $91.88.

Walmart Stock Performance

Shares of Walmart stock opened at $90.44 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $726.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.11, a PEG ratio of 4.20 and a beta of 0.51. The company has a current ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 0.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $82.12 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $73.75. Walmart Inc. has a 1-year low of $49.85 and a 1-year high of $90.91.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last issued 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. The business had revenue of $169.59 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $167.69 billion. Walmart had a return on equity of 21.78% and a net margin of 2.92%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.51 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Walmart Inc. will post 2.47 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Daniel J. Bartlett sold 2,063 shares of Walmart stock in a transaction on Monday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.76, for a total value of $166,607.88. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 459,558 shares in the company, valued at approximately $37,113,904.08. The trade was a 0.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder S Robson Walton sold 4,057,369 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.20, for a total value of $313,228,886.80. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 611,988,318 shares in the company, valued at $47,245,498,149.60. This trade represents a 0.66 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 12,337,337 shares of company stock worth $958,823,647 in the last quarter. 45.58% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.