Centric Wealth Management Grows Stock Holdings in Walmart Inc. $WMT

Key Points

• Centric Wealth Management boosted its holdings in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) by 25.9% in Q1, owning a total of 28,178 shares valued at approximately $2.47 million.
• Several institutional investors, including Goldman Sachs and Vanguard Group, have also recently increased their stakes in Walmart, indicating strong institutional confidence in the retailer.
• Walmart reported a Q2 earnings miss with an EPS of $0.68, below the consensus estimate of $0.74, despite a 4.8% increase in revenue year-over-year.

Centric Wealth Management increased its position in shares of Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT - Free Report) by 25.9% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 28,178 shares of the retailer's stock after buying an additional 5,800 shares during the period. Centric Wealth Management's holdings in Walmart were worth $2,474,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WMT. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Walmart by 0.8% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 425,961,042 shares of the retailer's stock valued at $37,395,120,000 after purchasing an additional 3,224,154 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its position in Walmart by 30.1% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 33,292,749 shares of the retailer's stock worth $2,922,770,000 after purchasing an additional 7,706,201 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its position in shares of Walmart by 1.3% during the first quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 30,874,987 shares of the retailer's stock valued at $2,710,665,000 after acquiring an additional 387,424 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of Walmart by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 29,843,892 shares of the retailer's stock valued at $2,696,396,000 after acquiring an additional 233,040 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Walmart by 2.9% in the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 29,188,142 shares of the retailer's stock valued at $2,562,427,000 after purchasing an additional 823,020 shares in the last quarter. 26.76% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on WMT shares. Guggenheim reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $115.00 price target (up previously from $112.00) on shares of Walmart in a research note on Monday, August 18th. KeyCorp upped their price target on shares of Walmart from $105.00 to $110.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, June 9th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Walmart from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, May 12th. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $117.00 price objective on shares of Walmart and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, August 22nd. Finally, Truist Financial lowered their price target on shares of Walmart from $111.00 to $109.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have issued a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $110.59.

Insider Activity

In other Walmart news, EVP John D. Rainey sold 2,200 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $98.30, for a total transaction of $216,260.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 626,118 shares of the company's stock, valued at $61,547,399.40. The trade was a 0.35% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP John R. Furner sold 13,125 shares of Walmart stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $95.14, for a total transaction of $1,248,712.50. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 932,313 shares in the company, valued at approximately $88,700,258.82. This represents a 1.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 101,966 shares of company stock valued at $9,858,673. Company insiders own 0.10% of the company's stock.

Walmart Stock Up 0.9%

WMT stock opened at $96.97 on Friday. Walmart Inc. has a twelve month low of $75.67 and a twelve month high of $105.30. The company has a current ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The company has a market capitalization of $773.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.45, a PEG ratio of 4.62 and a beta of 0.66. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $98.12 and a 200-day simple moving average of $95.42.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 21st. The retailer reported $0.68 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.74 by ($0.06). The business had revenue of $169.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $174.02 billion. Walmart had a return on equity of 21.45% and a net margin of 3.08%.The business's revenue for the quarter was up 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.67 EPS. Walmart has set its Q3 2026 guidance at 0.580-0.600 EPS. FY 2026 guidance at 2.520-2.620 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Walmart Inc. will post 2.55 earnings per share 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.

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