LongView Wealth Management Raises Holdings in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)

LongView Wealth Management lifted its holdings in shares of Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) by 206.8% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 15,482 shares of the retailer’s stock after purchasing an additional 10,436 shares during the period. LongView Wealth Management’s holdings in Walmart were worth $932,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of WMT. Waverly Advisors LLC boosted its position in Walmart by 11.2% during the third quarter. Waverly Advisors LLC now owns 11,470 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,834,000 after acquiring an additional 1,153 shares during the last quarter. Per Stirling Capital Management LLC. boosted its holdings in shares of Walmart by 4.5% in the 3rd quarter. Per Stirling Capital Management LLC. now owns 3,909 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $625,000 after purchasing an additional 168 shares during the last quarter. Hodges Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Walmart by 63.6% in the 3rd quarter. Hodges Capital Management Inc. now owns 26,543 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $4,245,000 after purchasing an additional 10,317 shares during the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Walmart by 13.5% in the 3rd quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 73,360 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $11,731,000 after purchasing an additional 8,747 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Gateway Advisory LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Walmart by 4.1% in the 3rd quarter. Gateway Advisory LLC now owns 1,643 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $263,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares during the last quarter. 26.76% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have weighed in on WMT. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on shares of Walmart from $65.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, May 17th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on shares of Walmart from $65.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, May 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Walmart from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $66.00 to $81.00 in a report on Monday, June 10th. Truist Financial lifted their target price on shares of Walmart from $60.00 to $64.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, May 17th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Walmart from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, May 20th. 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 presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $69.97.

Walmart Price Performance

NYSE WMT opened at $67.74 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $544.87 billion, a PE ratio of 28.99, a P/E/G ratio of 3.92 and a beta of 0.52. 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 Inc. has a 12 month low of $49.85 and a 12 month high of $69.04. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $64.07 and its 200 day simple moving average is $59.29.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last announced 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. The business had revenue of $161.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $159.57 billion. Walmart had a return on equity of 21.57% and a net margin of 2.88%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 6.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.49 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Walmart Inc. will post 2.42 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP John D. Rainey sold 3,000 shares of Walmart stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.26, for a total value of $180,780.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 524,613 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $31,613,179.38. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other Walmart news, EVP John D. Rainey sold 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 1st. The stock was 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 approximately $31,613,179.38. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP David Chojnowski sold 8,791 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.00, for a total value of $597,788.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 94,415 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,420,220. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 14,502,762 shares of company stock valued at $951,475,618. 45.58% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.