West Paces Advisors Inc. Increases Stake in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)

West Paces Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) by 208.9% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 5,841 shares of the retailer’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,950 shares during the quarter. West Paces Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Walmart were worth $351,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Walmart by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 137,214,807 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $21,944,764,000 after acquiring an additional 751,713 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley lifted its position in Walmart by 1.8% during the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 24,087,268 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $3,852,277,000 after purchasing an additional 426,388 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Walmart in the 4th quarter worth $3,674,652,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its position in shares of Walmart by 11.9% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 20,235,920 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $3,190,194,000 after buying an additional 2,150,351 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Walmart by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 13,011,647 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $2,081,120,000 after acquiring an additional 78,981 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 26.76% of the company’s stock.

Walmart Trading Up 1.3 %

Walmart stock traded up $0.87 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $68.29. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 14,152,889 shares, compared to its average volume of 18,122,811. Walmart Inc. has a 1 year low of $49.85 and a 1 year high of $69.04. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48. The firm has a market capitalization of $549.29 billion, a PE ratio of 29.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.89 and a beta of 0.52. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $63.56 and its two-hundred day moving average is $59.05.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 16th. The retailer reported $0.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.52 by $0.08. The firm 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 previous year, the firm earned $0.49 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Walmart Inc. will post 2.42 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, major shareholder Alice L. Walton sold 1,132,123 shares of the firm’s 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 647,371,888 shares in the company, valued at $42,092,120,157.76. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other news, major shareholder Alice L. Walton sold 1,132,123 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 23rd. The shares were 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 sale was disclosed in a 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 stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $66.80, for a total transaction of $242,737,840.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 636,898,811 shares in the company, valued at $42,544,840,574.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 14,480,846 shares of company stock valued at $949,751,461. Company insiders own 45.58% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have issued reports on WMT. DA Davidson upped their price objective on Walmart from $69.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 17th. KeyCorp lifted their price objective on shares of Walmart from $63.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 17th. HSBC increased their target price on shares of Walmart from $70.00 to $81.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 11th. 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 note on Thursday, June 6th. Finally, 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. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $69.97.

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.