Park Avenue Securities LLC Raises Holdings in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)

Park Avenue Securities LLC grew its stake in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) by 223.4% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 164,779 shares of the retailer’s stock after buying an additional 113,823 shares during the quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC’s holdings in Walmart were worth $9,915,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in WMT. SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. lifted its stake in Walmart by 200.6% in the first quarter. SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. now owns 8,657 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $521,000 after acquiring an additional 5,777 shares during the last quarter. M. Kraus & Co raised its holdings in shares of Walmart by 201.5% in the 1st quarter. M. Kraus & Co now owns 6,018 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $362,000 after purchasing an additional 4,022 shares in the last quarter. McLean Asset Management Corp raised its holdings in shares of Walmart by 201.5% in the 1st quarter. McLean Asset Management Corp now owns 7,588 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $454,000 after purchasing an additional 5,071 shares in the last quarter. Apella Capital LLC lifted its position in shares of Walmart by 126.3% during the 1st quarter. Apella Capital LLC now owns 6,743 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $403,000 after purchasing an additional 3,763 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Legacy Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in Walmart in the first quarter valued at $429,000. 26.76% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WMT has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on Walmart from $62.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, May 17th. StockNews.com cut Walmart from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, May 20th. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Walmart from $60.00 to $66.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, May 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Walmart from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $66.00 to $81.00 in a report on Monday, June 10th. Finally, Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Walmart from $63.33 to $75.00 and gave the company a “buy” 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. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $69.97.

Walmart Price Performance

Walmart stock opened at $67.91 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $546.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.92 and a beta of 0.52. Walmart Inc. has a one year low of $49.85 and a one year high of $68.55. The business has a fifty day moving average of $63.23 and a two-hundred day moving average of $58.70. 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 announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 16th. The retailer reported $0.60 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.52 by $0.08. Walmart had a net margin of 2.88% and a return on equity of 21.57%. The firm had revenue of $161.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $159.57 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.49 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that Walmart Inc. will post 2.42 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Timothy Patrick Flynn sold 30,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.82, for a total value of $1,944,600.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 144,807 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,386,389.74. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, Director Timothy Patrick Flynn sold 30,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.82, for a total value of $1,944,600.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 144,807 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,386,389.74. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director S Robson Walton sold 3,540,250 shares of Walmart stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.55, for a total transaction of $228,523,137.50. Following the transaction, the director now owns 648,504,011 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $41,860,933,910.05. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 14,493,971 shares of company stock worth $950,549,592. Company 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.