Kowal Investment Group LLC Grows Stake in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)

Kowal Investment Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) by 238.9% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 21,076 shares of the retailer’s stock after purchasing an additional 14,857 shares during the quarter. Kowal Investment Group LLC’s holdings in Walmart were worth $1,268,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in WMT. AHL Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Walmart by 192.1% during the first quarter. AHL Investment Management Inc. now owns 24,000 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,444,000 after acquiring an additional 15,785 shares in the last quarter. Valley Brook Capital Group Inc. increased its stake in Walmart by 4.2% during the 4th quarter. Valley Brook Capital Group Inc. now owns 7,816 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,232,000 after purchasing an additional 315 shares in the last quarter. Core Wealth Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Walmart by 38.9% during the fourth quarter. Core Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 1,501 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $237,000 after buying an additional 420 shares during the period. Motco grew its holdings in shares of Walmart by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Motco now owns 58,301 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $9,191,000 after buying an additional 726 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sovereign Financial Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Walmart by 204.3% in the 1st quarter. Sovereign Financial Group Inc. now owns 6,515 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $392,000 after acquiring an additional 4,374 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 26.76% of the company’s stock.

Walmart Stock Up 0.9 %

WMT opened at $68.07 on Wednesday. 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 company has a market cap of $547.52 billion, a PE ratio of 29.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.91 and a beta of 0.50. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $64.22 and a 200 day moving average price of $59.53.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 16th. The retailer reported $0.60 earnings per share 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 business had revenue of $161.50 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $159.57 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.49 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 6.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that Walmart Inc. will post 2.42 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO C Douglas Mcmillon sold 29,124 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.03, for a total value of $1,748,313.72. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 4,018,650 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $241,239,559.50. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In related news, CEO C Douglas Mcmillon sold 29,124 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.03, for a total value of $1,748,313.72. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 4,018,650 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $241,239,559.50. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP John D. Rainey sold 3,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.08, for a total value of $177,240.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 521,613 shares in the company, valued at approximately $30,816,896.04. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 14,525,340 shares of company stock valued at $953,023,399 in the last 90 days. 45.58% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have commented on WMT. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Walmart from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 17th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on Walmart from $69.00 to $71.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Truist Financial raised their price target on shares of Walmart from $60.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, May 17th. Raymond James upped their price objective on shares of Walmart from $63.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, May 17th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their target price on shares of Walmart from $71.00 to $77.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $70.47.

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.