Waverly Advisors LLC Buys 54,052 Shares of Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)

Waverly Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) by 311.9% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 71,384 shares of the retailer’s stock after purchasing an additional 54,052 shares during the quarter. Waverly Advisors LLC’s holdings in Walmart were worth $4,295,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of WMT. Flynn Zito Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Walmart by 3.9% during the fourth quarter. Flynn Zito Capital Management LLC now owns 1,636 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $258,000 after buying an additional 61 shares during the period. ICW Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Walmart by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. ICW Investment Advisors LLC now owns 15,451 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $2,436,000 after acquiring an additional 62 shares during the last quarter. Rossmore Private Capital boosted its holdings in Walmart by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Rossmore Private Capital now owns 20,504 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $3,232,000 after acquiring an additional 65 shares during the period. Sheaff Brock Investment Advisors LLC grew its position in Walmart by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Sheaff Brock Investment Advisors LLC now owns 21,377 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $3,370,000 after acquiring an additional 65 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Avion Wealth increased its stake in Walmart by 7.2% in the 4th quarter. Avion Wealth now owns 1,014 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $160,000 after purchasing an additional 68 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 26.76% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Walmart

In other news, EVP Daniel J. Bartlett sold 2,398 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.50, for a total transaction of $166,661.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 463,871 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $32,239,034.50. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, SVP David Chojnowski sold 8,791 shares of Walmart stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.00, for a total value of $597,788.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 94,415 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,420,220. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Daniel J. Bartlett sold 2,398 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.50, for a total value of $166,661.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 463,871 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $32,239,034.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 14,540,863 shares of company stock worth $954,424,817 in the last 90 days. 45.58% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Evercore ISI raised their target price on shares of Walmart from $73.00 to $74.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Walmart from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $66.00 to $81.00 in a research report on Monday, June 10th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on shares of Walmart from $75.00 to $77.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, June 10th. Citigroup boosted their price target on Walmart from $63.33 to $75.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 17th. Finally, TD Cowen raised their price target on Walmart from $68.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 17th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Walmart has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $71.60.

Walmart Price Performance

Shares of WMT traded down $0.41 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $69.21. 6,666,058 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 17,255,406. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a quick ratio of 0.23 and a current ratio of 0.80. The company has a market cap of $556.69 billion, a PE ratio of 29.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.02 and a beta of 0.50. Walmart Inc. has a 52-week low of $49.85 and a 52-week high of $71.33. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $67.92 and a two-hundred day moving average of $61.98.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last posted 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 business had revenue of $161.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $159.57 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.49 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts predict that Walmart Inc. will post 2.43 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.