LGT Group Foundation Has $3.70 Million Position in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)

LGT Group Foundation lifted its stake in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) by 83.9% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 61,463 shares of the retailer’s stock after purchasing an additional 28,046 shares during the quarter. LGT Group Foundation’s holdings in Walmart were worth $3,698,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of WMT. Shell Asset Management Co. boosted its stake in Walmart by 289.6% in the first quarter. Shell Asset Management Co. now owns 33,180 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,996,000 after acquiring an additional 24,663 shares during the last quarter. Sax Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in Walmart in the first quarter valued at approximately $412,000. Northwest Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Walmart by 208.6% in the first quarter. Northwest Wealth Management LLC now owns 26,127 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,572,000 after acquiring an additional 17,661 shares during the last quarter. Mattern Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Walmart by 210.6% in the first quarter. Mattern Wealth Management LLC now owns 56,984 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $3,429,000 after acquiring an additional 38,638 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mattern Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Walmart by 201.9% in the first quarter. Mattern Capital Management LLC now owns 169,869 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $10,221,000 after acquiring an additional 113,611 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 26.76% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on WMT. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on shares of Walmart from $69.00 to $71.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target 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. Telsey Advisory Group lifted their price target 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. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on shares of Walmart from $64.33 to $73.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 17th. Finally, Oppenheimer lifted their price target 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. Three investment 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, Walmart presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $71.60.

Walmart Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of WMT traded down $0.25 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $69.77. 5,313,625 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 17,295,607. Walmart Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $49.85 and a fifty-two week high of $71.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.23. The business has a 50-day moving average of $67.71 and a 200-day moving average of $61.63. The firm has a market capitalization of $561.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.07 and a beta of 0.50.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Walmart

In other Walmart news, SVP David Chojnowski sold 8,791 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.00, for a total value of $597,788.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 94,415 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,420,220. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, SVP David Chojnowski sold 8,791 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.00, for a total transaction of $597,788.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 94,415 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,420,220. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Alice L. Walton sold 3,633,800 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $66.80, for a total transaction of $242,737,840.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 636,898,811 shares in the company, valued at $42,544,840,574.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 14,498,614 shares of company stock valued at $951,441,747. Corporate insiders own 45.58% of the company’s stock.

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.