Alice L. Walton Sells 3,633,800 Shares of Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) Stock

Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) major shareholder Alice L. Walton sold 3,633,800 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $66.80, for a total value of $242,737,840.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 636,898,811 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $42,544,840,574.80. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Large shareholders that own at least 10% of a company’s stock are required to disclose their sales and purchases with the SEC.

Walmart Price Performance

NYSE WMT opened at $67.04 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $539.24 billion, a PE ratio of 28.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.83 and a beta of 0.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a quick ratio of 0.23 and a current ratio of 0.80. The business’s fifty day moving average is $62.47 and its 200 day moving average is $58.15. Walmart Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $49.85 and a fifty-two week high of $67.57.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 16th. The retailer reported $0.60 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 return on equity of 21.57% and a net margin of 2.88%. Walmart’s quarterly revenue was up 6.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.49 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Walmart Inc. will post 2.42 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Walmart

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of WMT. First Heartland Consultants Inc. raised its holdings in Walmart by 4.4% during the third quarter. First Heartland Consultants Inc. now owns 9,503 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,520,000 after acquiring an additional 400 shares during the period. Rhumbline Advisers raised its holdings in Walmart by 0.7% during the third quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 2,780,513 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $444,687,000 after acquiring an additional 18,444 shares during the period. First National Advisers LLC raised its holdings in Walmart by 67.9% during the third quarter. First National Advisers LLC now owns 15,401 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $2,463,000 after acquiring an additional 6,226 shares during the period. SPC Financial Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Walmart by 550.7% in the third quarter. SPC Financial Inc. now owns 18,747 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $2,998,000 after purchasing an additional 15,866 shares during the last quarter. Finally, William Blair Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Walmart by 72.1% in the third quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 14,849 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $2,375,000 after purchasing an additional 6,222 shares during the last quarter. 26.76% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on WMT shares. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on Walmart from $69.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 6th. Barclays raised their price objective on Walmart from $60.00 to $66.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, May 20th. KeyCorp raised their price objective on Walmart from $63.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 17th. HSBC increased their target price on Walmart from $70.00 to $81.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Citigroup increased their target price on Walmart from $63.33 to $75.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 17th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $69.94.

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.