Sugar Maple Asset Management LLC Buys New Shares in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)

Sugar Maple Asset Management LLC bought a new position in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund bought 536 shares of the retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $48,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. Evergreen Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Walmart by 5.6% in the second quarter. Evergreen Capital Management LLC now owns 44,556 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $3,017,000 after purchasing an additional 2,370 shares during the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP boosted its position in shares of Walmart by 102.9% during the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 2,483,590 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $168,164,000 after purchasing an additional 1,259,313 shares in the last quarter. Semmax Financial Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of Walmart by 3.4% in the 2nd quarter. Semmax Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 10,175 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $693,000 after acquiring an additional 333 shares in the last quarter. Strata Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Walmart in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $234,000. Finally, Gateway Advisory LLC lifted its position in Walmart by 4.6% during the second quarter. Gateway Advisory LLC now owns 4,659 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $332,000 after purchasing an additional 204 shares during the period. 26.76% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Walmart

In other Walmart news, EVP John R. Furner sold 13,125 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $82.96, for a total value of $1,088,850.00. Following 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 2.17 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP David Chojnowski sold 5,600 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $91.45, for a total value of $512,120.00. Following the transaction, 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 sold a total of 140,177 shares of company stock valued at $12,478,149 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 45.58% of the company’s stock.

Walmart Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:WMT opened at $93.05 on Wednesday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $91.31 and its 200 day simple moving average is $81.63. The company has a market cap of $747.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.19, a PEG ratio of 4.36 and a beta of 0.55. 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 Inc. has a one year low of $53.44 and a one year high of $96.18.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, November 19th. The retailer reported $0.58 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $169.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $167.69 billion. Walmart had a net margin of 2.92% and a return on equity of 21.78%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.51 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Walmart Inc. will post 2.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently issued reports on WMT. Bank of America increased their target price on Walmart from $95.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. Citigroup upped their target price on Walmart from $75.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price target on Walmart from $98.00 to $102.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. StockNews.com lowered Walmart from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. Finally, DZ Bank lowered Walmart from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $91.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $94.69.

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.