First Bancorp Inc ME Buys 5,586 Shares of Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)

First Bancorp Inc ME lifted its stake in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) by 202.5% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 8,344 shares of the retailer’s stock after buying an additional 5,586 shares during the period. First Bancorp Inc ME’s holdings in Walmart were worth $502,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Mather Group LLC. grew its stake in Walmart by 4.2% in the third quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 18,457 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $2,952,000 after purchasing an additional 751 shares in the last quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC raised its holdings in shares of Walmart by 10.4% in the 3rd quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 81,457 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $13,027,000 after purchasing an additional 7,672 shares during the period. Morningstar Investment Services LLC lifted its stake in Walmart by 55.4% in the 3rd quarter. Morningstar Investment Services LLC now owns 3,238 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $526,000 after purchasing an additional 1,155 shares during the last quarter. Cape Cod Five Cents Savings Bank bought a new position in Walmart during the third quarter worth about $324,000. Finally, Ancora Advisors LLC increased its position in Walmart by 3.2% during the third quarter. Ancora Advisors LLC now owns 42,101 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $6,733,000 after buying an additional 1,317 shares during the last quarter. 26.76% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other Walmart news, CEO C Douglas Mcmillon sold 29,124 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.45, for a total transaction of $1,760,545.80. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 4,047,767 shares in the company, valued at approximately $244,687,515.15. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Walmart news, CEO C Douglas Mcmillon sold 29,124 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.45, for a total value of $1,760,545.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 4,047,767 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $244,687,515.15. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, major shareholder Alice L. Walton sold 1,132,123 shares of Walmart stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.02, for a total transaction of $73,610,637.46. Following the sale, the insider now owns 647,371,888 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $42,092,120,157.76. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 14,480,846 shares of company stock worth $949,751,461. 45.58% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. DA Davidson raised their target price on shares of Walmart from $69.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 17th. Tigress Financial increased their price objective on shares of Walmart from $65.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 13th. UBS Group increased their price target on Walmart from $63.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Walmart from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $66.00 to $81.00 in a report on Monday, June 10th. Finally, Roth Mkm raised their price target on shares of Walmart from $69.00 to $71.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 17th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-eight have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Walmart currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $69.97.

Walmart Price Performance

WMT stock traded up $0.97 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $68.39. The company had a trading volume of 9,684,313 shares, compared to its average volume of 18,086,184. The company has a market capitalization of $550.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.30, a P/E/G ratio of 3.89 and a beta of 0.52. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $63.56 and a 200 day moving average price of $59.05. The company has a quick ratio of 0.23, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48. Walmart Inc. has a 12-month low of $49.85 and a 12-month high of $69.04.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 16th. The retailer reported $0.60 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.52 by $0.08. Walmart had a return on equity of 21.57% and a net margin of 2.88%. The company had revenue of $161.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $159.57 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.49 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 6.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that Walmart Inc. will post 2.42 earnings per share for the current 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.