Foster Group Inc. Reduces Position in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)

Foster Group Inc. cut its position in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) by 16.5% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,938 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 974 shares during the period. Foster Group Inc.’s holdings in Walmart were worth $776,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Walmart by 1.0% in the 1st quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 25,104,994 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $3,691,763,000 after buying an additional 249,501 shares during the last quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Walmart by 112,181.6% in the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 22,854,919 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $3,240,599,000 after buying an additional 22,834,564 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley grew its position in shares of Walmart by 9.4% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 22,382,688 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $3,173,642,000 after buying an additional 1,923,199 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Walmart in the 4th quarter valued at $2,598,736,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its position in shares of Walmart by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 11,685,848 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,515,655,000 after buying an additional 33,452 shares during the last quarter. 33.18% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently commented on WMT. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on shares of Walmart from $165.00 to $180.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 17th. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Walmart from $173.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 18th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on shares of Walmart from $163.00 to $167.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, August 14th. Piper Sandler upgraded shares of Walmart from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $145.00 to $210.00 in a research note on Monday, July 24th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on shares of Walmart from $175.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 2nd. Four equities 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 company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $176.51.

Insider Buying and Selling at Walmart

In other Walmart news, EVP John D. Rainey sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $161.37, for a total transaction of $161,370.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 169,735 shares in the company, valued at approximately $27,390,136.95. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, EVP John D. Rainey sold 1,000 shares of Walmart stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $161.37, for a total transaction of $161,370.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 169,735 shares in the company, valued at $27,390,136.95. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO C Douglas Mcmillon sold 9,708 shares of Walmart stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $155.04, for a total transaction of $1,505,128.32. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,490,621 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $231,105,879.84. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 6,493,773 shares of company stock worth $1,005,802,298. 46.51% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Walmart Stock Performance

NYSE:WMT opened at $164.64 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.83, a quick ratio of 0.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $159.34 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $152.61. Walmart Inc. has a twelve month low of $128.07 and a twelve month high of $165.85. The company has a market capitalization of $443.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.90 and a beta of 0.49.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, August 17th. The retailer reported $1.84 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.69 by $0.15. Walmart had a net margin of 2.23% and a return on equity of 21.47%. The firm had revenue of $161.63 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $160.22 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.77 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Walmart Inc. will post 6.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Walmart Profile

Walmart Inc engages in the operation of retail, wholesale, and other units 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, walmart.com.mx, walmart.ca, flipkart.com, and samsclub.com; and mobile commerce applications.