Davis R M Inc. Increases Stock Position in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)

Davis R M Inc. lifted its position in shares of Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) by 192.0% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 11,318 shares of the retailer’s stock after buying an additional 7,442 shares during the period. Davis R M Inc.’s holdings in Walmart were worth $681,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of WMT. Resurgent Financial Advisors LLC raised its stake in Walmart by 208.3% during the first quarter. Resurgent Financial Advisors LLC now owns 27,859 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,676,000 after purchasing an additional 18,823 shares during the period. Covestor Ltd raised its stake in Walmart by 207.6% during the first quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 2,556 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $154,000 after purchasing an additional 1,725 shares during the period. Elevatus Welath Management raised its stake in Walmart by 208.2% during the first quarter. Elevatus Welath Management now owns 4,935 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $297,000 after purchasing an additional 3,334 shares during the period. Peak Asset Management LLC raised its stake in Walmart by 199.3% during the first quarter. Peak Asset Management LLC now owns 5,490 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $330,000 after purchasing an additional 3,656 shares during the period. Finally, Beaumont Financial Advisors LLC raised its stake in Walmart by 370.7% during the first quarter. Beaumont Financial Advisors LLC now owns 12,583 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $757,000 after purchasing an additional 9,910 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 26.76% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Walmart from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $66.00 to $81.00 in a research report on Monday, June 10th. Telsey Advisory Group increased their price objective on shares of Walmart from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, June 10th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Walmart from $62.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, May 17th. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on shares of Walmart from $69.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 6th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on shares of Walmart from $75.00 to $77.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, June 10th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $71.44.

Walmart Stock Performance

Shares of Walmart stock traded down $0.06 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $70.59. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 9,257,818 shares, compared to its average volume of 17,269,199. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $67.37 and its 200 day simple moving average is $61.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a quick ratio of 0.23 and a current ratio of 0.80. Walmart Inc. has a one year low of $49.85 and a one year high of $71.33. The stock has a market cap of $567.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.06 and a beta of 0.50.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 16th. The retailer reported $0.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.52 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $161.50 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $159.57 billion. Walmart had a net margin of 2.88% and a return on equity of 21.57%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.49 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Walmart Inc. will post 2.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Walmart

In related news, EVP Daniel J. Bartlett sold 2,398 shares of Walmart stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.50, for a total value of $166,661.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 463,871 shares in the company, valued at approximately $32,239,034.50. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, CEO C Douglas Mcmillon sold 29,124 shares of Walmart stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.03, for a total value of $1,748,313.72. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 4,018,650 shares in the company, valued at approximately $241,239,559.50. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Daniel J. Bartlett sold 2,398 shares of Walmart stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.50, for a total transaction of $166,661.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 463,871 shares in the company, valued at $32,239,034.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 14,527,738 shares of company stock worth $953,190,060 in the last ninety days. 45.58% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Walmart 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.