Curbstone Financial Management Corp Acquires 9,736 Shares of Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)

Curbstone Financial Management Corp boosted its holdings in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) by 194.0% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 14,754 shares of the retailer’s stock after purchasing an additional 9,736 shares during the quarter. Curbstone Financial Management Corp’s holdings in Walmart were worth $888,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC bought a new position in shares of Walmart during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $732,000. CI Investments Inc. raised its holdings in Walmart by 7.0% during the 3rd quarter. CI Investments Inc. now owns 32,762 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $5,240,000 after buying an additional 2,139 shares during the period. V Square Quantitative Management LLC purchased a new stake in Walmart during the 3rd quarter valued at $209,000. Clearbridge Investments LLC raised its holdings in Walmart by 8.5% during the 3rd quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 1,783,118 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $285,174,000 after buying an additional 139,745 shares during the period. Finally, Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in Walmart by 5.2% during the 3rd quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 4,103 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $656,000 after buying an additional 204 shares during the period. 26.76% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Walmart

In related news, EVP John R. Furner sold 13,125 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.81, for a total value of $798,131.25. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 645,517 shares in the company, valued at $39,253,888.77. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other Walmart news, major shareholder Alice L. Walton sold 3,633,800 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $66.80, for a total value of $242,737,840.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 636,898,811 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $42,544,840,574.80. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP John R. Furner sold 13,125 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.81, for a total value of $798,131.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 645,517 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $39,253,888.77. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 14,493,971 shares of company stock worth $950,549,592 over the last quarter. Insiders own 45.58% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently weighed in on WMT shares. TD Cowen increased their price target on Walmart from $68.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 17th. Truist Financial increased their target price on Walmart from $60.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, May 17th. Oppenheimer increased their target price on Walmart from $69.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 6th. StockNews.com lowered Walmart from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, May 20th. Finally, HSBC increased their target price on Walmart from $70.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 11th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $69.97.

Walmart Price Performance

Shares of WMT stock opened at $68.03 on Friday. Walmart Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $49.85 and a fifty-two week high of $68.13. The firm has a market capitalization of $547.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.11, a PEG ratio of 3.90 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 stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $63.08 and its 200-day simple moving average is $58.58.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 16th. The retailer reported $0.60 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 business had revenue of $161.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $159.57 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.49 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 6.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Walmart Inc. will post 2.42 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.