Calton & Associates Inc. Boosts Stock Position in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)

Calton & Associates Inc. lifted its position in shares of Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) by 15.3% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,737 shares of the retailer’s stock after purchasing an additional 627 shares during the period. Calton & Associates Inc.’s holdings in Walmart were worth $285,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Flynn Zito Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Walmart by 3.9% in the fourth quarter. Flynn Zito Capital Management LLC now owns 1,636 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $258,000 after buying an additional 61 shares in the last quarter. ICW Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in Walmart by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. ICW Investment Advisors LLC now owns 15,451 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $2,436,000 after buying an additional 62 shares in the last quarter. Bill Few Associates Inc. raised its stake in Walmart by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Bill Few Associates Inc. now owns 5,806 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $915,000 after buying an additional 64 shares in the last quarter. Gateway Advisory LLC raised its stake in Walmart by 4.1% in the third quarter. Gateway Advisory LLC now owns 1,643 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $263,000 after buying an additional 65 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Rossmore Private Capital raised its stake in Walmart by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Rossmore Private Capital now owns 20,504 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $3,232,000 after buying an additional 65 shares in the last quarter. 26.76% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently issued reports on WMT. Tigress Financial increased their price target on shares of Walmart from $65.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 13th. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on shares of Walmart from $65.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, May 17th. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Walmart from $63.33 to $75.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 17th. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Walmart from $60.00 to $66.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, May 20th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on shares of Walmart from $64.33 to $73.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 17th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $69.97.

Walmart Trading Down 0.2 %

NYSE:WMT opened at $67.74 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48. Walmart Inc. has a 12 month low of $49.85 and a 12 month high of $69.04. The company has a market cap of $544.87 billion, a PE ratio of 28.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.92 and a beta of 0.52. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $64.07 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $59.29.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.52 by $0.08. Walmart had a net margin of 2.88% and a return on equity of 21.57%. 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 firm posted $0.49 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that Walmart Inc. will post 2.42 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP John D. Rainey sold 3,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.26, for a total transaction of $180,780.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 524,613 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $31,613,179.38. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, Director Timothy Patrick Flynn sold 30,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.82, for a total value of $1,944,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 144,807 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,386,389.74. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP John D. Rainey sold 3,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.26, for a total transaction of $180,780.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 524,613 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $31,613,179.38. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 14,502,762 shares of company stock valued at $951,475,618 in the last 90 days. Company 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.