Douglas Lane & Associates LLC Buys 17,810 Shares of Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)

Douglas Lane & Associates LLC lifted its stake in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) by 199.1% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 26,755 shares of the retailer’s stock after acquiring an additional 17,810 shares during the period. Douglas Lane & Associates LLC’s holdings in Walmart were worth $1,610,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Walmart by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 137,214,807 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $21,944,764,000 after acquiring an additional 751,713 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley grew its holdings in Walmart by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 24,087,268 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $3,852,277,000 after buying an additional 426,388 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Walmart in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $3,674,652,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its holdings in Walmart by 11.9% in 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its holdings in 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 buying an additional 78,981 shares during the last quarter. 26.76% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Walmart Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of WMT opened at $67.91 on Monday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $63.23 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $58.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a quick ratio of 0.23 and a current ratio of 0.80. Walmart Inc. has a 52-week low of $49.85 and a 52-week high of $68.55. The company has a market cap of $546.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.06, a PEG ratio of 3.92 and a beta of 0.52.

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. Walmart had a return on equity of 21.57% and a net margin of 2.88%. The firm had revenue of $161.50 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $159.57 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.49 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Walmart Inc. will post 2.42 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Walmart

In other news, EVP John R. Furner sold 13,125 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $66.85, for a total transaction of $877,406.25. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 658,665 shares in the company, valued at $44,031,755.25. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, major shareholder Alice L. Walton sold 3,633,800 shares of Walmart stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, 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 legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP John R. Furner sold 13,125 shares of Walmart stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $66.85, for a total value of $877,406.25. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 658,665 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $44,031,755.25. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 14,493,971 shares of company stock worth $950,549,592 over the last 90 days. 45.58% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have issued reports on the company. Telsey Advisory Group raised their target price on Walmart from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, June 10th. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on Walmart from $65.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, May 17th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on Walmart from $75.00 to $77.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, June 10th. Truist Financial lifted their price objective on Walmart from $60.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, May 17th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price objective on Walmart from $63.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 7th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Walmart presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $69.97.

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.