Prosperity Consulting Group LLC Grows Stock Position in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)

Prosperity Consulting Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) by 301.8% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 30,258 shares of the retailer’s stock after buying an additional 22,728 shares during the quarter. Prosperity Consulting Group LLC’s holdings in Walmart were worth $1,821,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in Walmart during the 4th quarter valued at about $3,674,652,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its position in shares of Walmart by 183.0% during the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 29,172,985 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,755,339,000 after buying an additional 18,865,484 shares during the period. Raymond James & Associates boosted its position in shares of Walmart by 212.6% during the first quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 14,035,473 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $844,514,000 after buying an additional 9,544,958 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. grew its stake in shares of Walmart by 184.1% during the first quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 12,567,533 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $756,188,000 after buying an additional 8,144,393 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Walmart by 199.3% in the first quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 7,639,240 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $459,653,000 after buying an additional 5,087,119 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 26.76% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have commented on WMT. Raymond James upped their price objective on Walmart from $63.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, May 17th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on shares of Walmart from $62.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, May 17th. Tigress Financial boosted their price objective on shares of Walmart from $65.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 13th. Evercore ISI raised their target price on shares of Walmart from $72.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 20th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on Walmart from $65.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “outperform” 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $70.47.

Walmart Stock Up 2.6 %

Shares of WMT stock opened at $70.04 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $64.93 and its 200 day moving average price is $59.95. Walmart Inc. has a 1-year low of $49.85 and a 1-year high of $70.15. The company has a market cap of $563.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.04 and a beta of 0.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.23.

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. On average, research analysts expect that Walmart Inc. will post 2.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Walmart news, EVP John D. Rainey sold 25,578 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $67.58, for a total value of $1,728,561.24. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 390,165 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,367,350.70. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In related news, CEO C Douglas Mcmillon sold 29,124 shares of Walmart stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.03, for a total transaction 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 filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP John D. Rainey sold 25,578 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $67.58, for a total transaction of $1,728,561.24. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 390,165 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,367,350.70. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 14,525,340 shares of company stock valued at $953,023,399. 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.