Decker Retirement Planning Inc. Acquires New Position in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)

Decker Retirement Planning Inc. bought a new position in shares of Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund bought 353 shares of the retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $32,000.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Jennison Associates LLC grew its holdings in shares of Walmart by 479.6% during the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 18,479,259 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,492,200,000 after buying an additional 15,290,936 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its stake in Walmart by 12.9% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 63,135,639 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $5,098,203,000 after purchasing an additional 7,200,004 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Walmart by 8,814.4% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 6,963,218 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $562,280,000 after purchasing an additional 6,885,106 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Walmart by 3.3% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 87,617,409 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $7,048,465,000 after purchasing an additional 2,786,061 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Walmart by 4.6% during the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 47,659,844 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $3,848,533,000 after purchasing an additional 2,107,197 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 26.76% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Robert Edward Jr. Moritz bought 5,446 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 27th. The stock was bought at an average price of $91.81 per share, with a total value of $499,997.26. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 7,805 shares in the company, valued at $716,577.05. This represents a 230.86 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO C Douglas Mcmillon sold 29,124 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $82.79, for a total transaction of $2,411,175.96. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,843,929 shares in the company, valued at $318,238,881.91. This trade represents a 0.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 140,177 shares of company stock valued at $12,478,149 in the last three months. 45.58% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price target on shares of Walmart from $98.00 to $102.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of Walmart from $95.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. TD Cowen increased their price target on Walmart from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $105.00 price objective on shares of Walmart in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on Walmart from $89.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Two investment 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’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Walmart currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $94.49.

Walmart Price Performance

Shares of NYSE WMT opened at $92.02 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $91.01 and a 200-day simple moving average of $81.10. The company has a quick ratio of 0.23, a current ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42. The stock has a market capitalization of $739.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.41 and a beta of 0.55. Walmart Inc. has a 52 week low of $53.44 and a 52 week high of $96.18.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 19th. The retailer reported $0.58 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $169.59 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $167.69 billion. Walmart had a net margin of 2.92% and a return on equity of 21.78%. Walmart’s quarterly revenue was up 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.51 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Walmart Inc. will post 2.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Walmart Company 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.