Hodges Capital Management Inc. Acquires 74,318 Shares of Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)

Hodges Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) by 164.1% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 119,598 shares of the retailer’s stock after buying an additional 74,318 shares during the quarter. Hodges Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Walmart were worth $7,196,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. AHL Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Walmart by 192.1% in the first quarter. AHL Investment Management Inc. now owns 24,000 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,444,000 after purchasing an additional 15,785 shares during the period. Valley Brook Capital Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Walmart by 4.2% in the fourth quarter. Valley Brook Capital Group Inc. now owns 7,816 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,232,000 after purchasing an additional 315 shares during the period. Core Wealth Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of Walmart by 38.9% in the fourth quarter. Core Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 1,501 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $237,000 after purchasing an additional 420 shares during the period. Motco boosted its position in shares of Walmart by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Motco now owns 58,301 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $9,191,000 after purchasing an additional 726 shares during the period. Finally, Sovereign Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Walmart by 204.3% in the first quarter. Sovereign Financial Group Inc. now owns 6,515 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $392,000 after purchasing an additional 4,374 shares during the period. 26.76% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have weighed in on WMT. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on shares of Walmart from $62.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, May 17th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of Walmart from $65.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, May 17th. HSBC boosted their target price on shares of Walmart from $70.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 11th. Raymond James boosted their target price on shares of Walmart from $63.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, May 17th. Finally, DA Davidson boosted their target price on shares of Walmart from $69.00 to $75.00 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 and twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $69.97.

Insider Transactions at Walmart

In other news, CEO C Douglas Mcmillon sold 29,124 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.39, for a total value of $1,991,790.36. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,960,402 shares in the company, valued at $270,851,892.78. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other Walmart news, CEO C Douglas Mcmillon sold 29,124 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.39, for a total transaction of $1,991,790.36. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,960,402 shares in the company, valued at approximately $270,851,892.78. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP John R. Furner sold 13,125 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.20, for a total transaction of $895,125.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 645,540 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $44,025,828. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 14,502,762 shares of company stock worth $951,475,618. Insiders own 45.58% of the company’s stock.

Walmart Trading Down 0.3 %

WMT stock opened at $67.71 on Friday. 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 twelve month low of $49.85 and a twelve month high of $69.04. The stock has a market capitalization of $544.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.91 and a beta of 0.52. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $64.07 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $59.35.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 16th. The retailer reported $0.60 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.52 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $161.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $159.57 billion. Walmart had a net margin of 2.88% and a return on equity of 21.57%. The business’s revenue was up 6.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.49 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Walmart Inc. will post 2.42 earnings per share 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.