Hobart Private Capital LLC Raises Stock Position in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)

Hobart Private Capital LLC raised its holdings in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) by 191.4% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 5,901 shares of the retailer’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,876 shares during the quarter. Hobart Private Capital LLC’s holdings in Walmart were worth $355,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Morningstar Investment Services LLC boosted its stake in shares of Walmart by 55.4% in the third quarter. Morningstar Investment Services LLC now owns 3,238 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $526,000 after buying an additional 1,155 shares during the last quarter. Cape Cod Five Cents Savings Bank acquired a new position in Walmart in the third quarter valued at approximately $324,000. Ancora Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Walmart by 3.2% during the 3rd quarter. Ancora Advisors LLC now owns 42,101 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $6,733,000 after purchasing an additional 1,317 shares during the period. Ironwood Investment Counsel LLC increased its holdings in shares of Walmart by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. Ironwood Investment Counsel LLC now owns 12,360 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,977,000 after purchasing an additional 150 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital Management Associates NY increased its holdings in shares of Walmart by 37.0% during the 3rd quarter. Capital Management Associates NY now owns 7,400 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,183,000 after purchasing an additional 2,000 shares in the last quarter. 26.76% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently commented on the stock. Evercore ISI raised their price target on shares of Walmart from $72.00 to $73.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 20th. Raymond James lifted their price target on Walmart from $63.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, May 17th. Roth Mkm upped their price target on Walmart from $69.00 to $71.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 17th. KeyCorp raised their price objective on Walmart from $63.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, May 17th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Walmart from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, May 20th. Three 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 currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $69.97.

Walmart Stock Up 1.3 %

WMT stock opened at $68.30 on Thursday. Walmart Inc. has a one year low of $49.85 and a one year high of $69.04. The firm has a market cap of $549.37 billion, a PE ratio of 29.23, a PEG ratio of 3.89 and a beta of 0.52. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $63.56 and its 200-day moving average price is $59.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a quick ratio of 0.23 and a current ratio of 0.80.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 16th. The retailer reported $0.60 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $161.50 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $159.57 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.49 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Walmart Inc. will post 2.42 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Walmart

In other Walmart news, EVP John D. Rainey sold 3,000 shares of Walmart stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owns 524,613 shares in the company, valued at $31,613,179.38. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Walmart news, EVP John D. Rainey sold 3,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.26, for a total transaction of $180,780.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 524,613 shares in the company, valued at $31,613,179.38. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO C Douglas Mcmillon sold 29,124 shares of Walmart stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.03, for a total transaction of $1,748,313.72. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 4,018,650 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $241,239,559.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 14,451,722 shares of company stock worth $947,990,915. Company insiders own 45.58% of the company’s stock.

Walmart 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.