Athena Investment Management Has $759,000 Position in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)

Athena Investment Management cut its holdings in shares of Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) by 5.9% during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 11,203 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 699 shares during the period. Athena Investment Management’s holdings in Walmart were worth $759,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of WMT. EntryPoint Capital LLC acquired a new position in Walmart during the first quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Northwest Capital Management Inc raised its stake in shares of Walmart by 199.3% during the 1st quarter. Northwest Capital Management Inc now owns 440 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 293 shares in the last quarter. TruNorth Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings 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 buying an additional 249 shares during the last quarter. Cultivar Capital Inc. bought a new position in shares of Walmart in the second quarter valued at $29,000. Finally, Partnership Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Walmart during the fourth quarter worth $30,000. 26.76% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Walmart

In other Walmart news, CEO C Douglas Mcmillon sold 29,124 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.39, for a total value of $1,991,790.36. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 3,960,402 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $270,851,892.78. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, CEO C Douglas Mcmillon sold 29,124 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.39, for a total transaction of $1,991,790.36. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,960,402 shares in the company, valued at approximately $270,851,892.78. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, major shareholder S Robson Walton sold 1,244,347 shares of Walmart stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $66.63, for a total value of $82,910,840.61. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 633,518,311 shares in the company, valued at approximately $42,211,325,061.93. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 10,513,707 shares of company stock worth $797,374,003 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 45.58% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WMT has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on shares of Walmart from $78.00 to $80.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 22nd. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Walmart from $66.00 to $78.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 16th. Citigroup upped their price objective on Walmart from $63.33 to $75.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 17th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Walmart from $75.00 to $82.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 16th. Finally, KeyCorp lifted their target price on Walmart from $75.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $78.99.

Walmart Stock Performance

WMT opened at $78.80 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a quick ratio of 0.22 and a current ratio of 0.80. Walmart Inc. has a 52-week low of $49.85 and a 52-week high of $78.90. The firm has a market cap of $633.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.84 and a beta of 0.51. The business’s fifty day moving average is $71.86 and its 200-day moving average is $65.76.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last released its earnings results on Thursday, August 15th. The retailer reported $0.67 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.65 by $0.02. Walmart had a net margin of 2.34% and a return on equity of 21.72%. The firm had revenue of $169.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $168.56 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.61 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that Walmart Inc. will post 2.44 EPS for the current fiscal 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.