Vaughan David Investments LLC IL Acquires 19,652 Shares of Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)

Vaughan David Investments LLC IL grew its holdings in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) by 205.6% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 29,210 shares of the retailer’s stock after acquiring an additional 19,652 shares during the period. Vaughan David Investments LLC IL’s holdings in Walmart were worth $1,758,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Walmart by 199.4% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 411,745,334 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $24,774,717,000 after purchasing an additional 274,229,968 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Walmart during the 4th quarter worth $3,674,652,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its stake in Walmart by 183.0% in the 1st quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 29,172,985 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,755,339,000 after buying an additional 18,865,484 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates raised its holdings in Walmart by 212.6% in the 1st quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 14,035,473 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $844,514,000 after acquiring an additional 9,544,958 shares during the period. Finally, Swiss National Bank lifted its position in Walmart by 187.4% during the 1st quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 13,303,200 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $800,454,000 after acquiring an additional 8,674,100 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 26.76% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Walmart

In related news, EVP Daniel J. Bartlett sold 2,398 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Walmart news, major shareholder Alice L. Walton sold 1,132,123 shares of Walmart stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.02, for a total value of $73,610,637.46. Following the transaction, 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 legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Daniel J. Bartlett sold 2,398 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 directly owns 463,871 shares in the company, valued at $32,239,034.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 14,498,614 shares of company stock worth $951,441,747. 45.58% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently commented on WMT. DA Davidson lifted their price objective on Walmart from $69.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 17th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on Walmart from $75.00 to $77.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, June 10th. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Walmart from $63.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 7th. Oppenheimer increased their price target on shares of Walmart from $69.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, June 6th. Finally, Roth Mkm boosted their price objective on shares of Walmart from $69.00 to $71.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 17th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $71.60.

Walmart Trading Down 0.6 %

WMT stock traded down $0.39 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $70.21. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 10,376,885 shares, compared to its average volume of 17,322,670. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $67.59 and its 200-day simple moving average is $61.57. 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 52 week low of $49.85 and a 52 week high of $71.33. The stock has a market cap of $564.74 billion, a PE ratio of 30.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.07 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 the consensus estimate of $0.52 by $0.08. Walmart had a return on equity of 21.57% and a net margin of 2.88%. The business had revenue of $161.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $159.57 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.49 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 6.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Walmart Inc. will post 2.43 EPS 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.