Arkansas Financial Group Inc. Grows Stake in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)

Arkansas Financial Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) by 205.8% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 9,418 shares of the retailer’s stock after buying an additional 6,338 shares during the quarter. Arkansas Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Walmart were worth $567,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Morningstar Investment Services LLC raised 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 purchasing an additional 1,155 shares during the last quarter. Cape Cod Five Cents Savings Bank bought a new position in Walmart during the 3rd quarter valued at about $324,000. Ancora Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Walmart by 3.2% during the 3rd quarter. Ancora Advisors LLC now owns 42,101 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $6,733,000 after acquiring an additional 1,317 shares during the period. First Dallas Securities Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Walmart by 150.4% during the 3rd quarter. First Dallas Securities Inc. now owns 10,784 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,725,000 after acquiring an additional 6,478 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec grew its stake in shares of Walmart by 8.7% in the third quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 1,471,450 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $235,329,000 after acquiring an additional 118,044 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 26.76% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other Walmart news, EVP John R. Furner sold 13,125 shares of Walmart stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $66.85, for a total transaction of $877,406.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 658,665 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $44,031,755.25. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, EVP John R. Furner sold 13,125 shares of Walmart stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $66.85, for a total transaction of $877,406.25. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 658,665 shares in the company, valued at approximately $44,031,755.25. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, 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 value of $180,780.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 524,613 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $31,613,179.38. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 14,451,722 shares of company stock valued at $947,990,915. 45.58% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently issued reports on WMT. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on shares of Walmart from $64.33 to $73.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 17th. DA Davidson upped their price target on shares of Walmart from $69.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 17th. Roth Mkm raised their price objective on shares of Walmart from $69.00 to $71.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 17th. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Walmart from $63.00 to $69.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 7th. Finally, Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of Walmart from $67.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note 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 stock. According to MarketBeat, Walmart has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $69.97.

Walmart Trading Down 0.6 %

WMT stock opened at $67.88 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $63.74 and a 200 day moving average price of $59.11. Walmart Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $49.85 and a fifty-two week high of $69.04. The firm has a market cap of $546.00 billion, a PE ratio of 29.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.94 and a beta of 0.52. 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 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.52 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $161.50 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $159.57 billion. Walmart had a net margin of 2.88% and a return on equity of 21.57%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 6.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.49 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Walmart Inc. will post 2.42 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.