O ROURKE & COMPANY Inc Acquires 8,445 Shares of Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)

O ROURKE & COMPANY Inc grew its holdings in shares of Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) by 200.1% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 12,665 shares of the retailer’s stock after purchasing an additional 8,445 shares during the quarter. O ROURKE & COMPANY Inc’s holdings in Walmart were worth $762,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Walmart by 0.6% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 137,214,807 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $21,944,764,000 after purchasing an additional 751,713 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley raised its stake in Walmart by 1.8% in the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 24,087,268 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $3,852,277,000 after purchasing an additional 426,388 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Walmart in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $3,674,652,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its stake in Walmart by 11.9% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 20,235,920 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $3,190,194,000 after purchasing an additional 2,150,351 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its stake in Walmart by 4.8% in the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 9,550,281 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,505,602,000 after purchasing an additional 435,253 shares in the last quarter. 26.76% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have commented on WMT shares. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Walmart from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 17th. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Walmart from $63.00 to $69.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 7th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on shares of Walmart from $69.00 to $71.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on shares of Walmart from $65.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, May 17th. Finally, Oppenheimer increased their price target on shares of Walmart from $69.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 6th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Walmart currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $70.47.

Walmart Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:WMT opened at $68.07 on Wednesday. Walmart Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $49.85 and a fifty-two week high of $69.04. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $64.22 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $59.53. 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 firm has a market cap of $547.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.91 and a beta of 0.50.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last issued its 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $159.57 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.49 EPS. Walmart’s revenue was up 6.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that Walmart Inc. will post 2.42 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Walmart news, EVP John D. Rainey sold 3,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.08, for a total value of $177,240.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 521,613 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $30,816,896.04. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other Walmart news, EVP John D. Rainey sold 3,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.08, for a total transaction of $177,240.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 521,613 shares in the company, valued at approximately $30,816,896.04. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP David Chojnowski sold 8,791 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 26th. The shares were 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 90 days, insiders sold 14,525,340 shares of company stock valued at $953,023,399. 45.58% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.