WoodTrust Financial Corp Increases Stake in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)

WoodTrust Financial Corp lifted its stake in shares of Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) by 201.4% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 144,377 shares of the retailer’s stock after buying an additional 96,477 shares during the period. Walmart comprises about 0.9% of WoodTrust Financial Corp’s holdings, making the stock its 19th largest position. WoodTrust Financial Corp’s holdings in Walmart were worth $8,687,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Griffin Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in Walmart by 207.4% in the first quarter. Griffin Asset Management Inc. now owns 164,625 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $9,905,000 after purchasing an additional 111,069 shares during the period. Criterion Capital Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Walmart by 200.0% in the first quarter. Criterion Capital Advisors LLC now owns 1,212 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $73,000 after purchasing an additional 808 shares during the period. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in Walmart by 182.4% in the first quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 101,314 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $6,096,000 after purchasing an additional 65,443 shares during the period. MCF Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Walmart by 188.1% in the first quarter. MCF Advisors LLC now owns 17,470 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,054,000 after purchasing an additional 11,407 shares during the period. Finally, Searcy Financial Services Inc. ADV grew its holdings in Walmart by 200.1% in the first quarter. Searcy Financial Services Inc. ADV now owns 3,832 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $231,000 after purchasing an additional 2,555 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 26.76% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently commented on WMT. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on shares of Walmart from $65.00 to $69.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, May 17th. Evercore ISI increased their price target on shares of Walmart from $72.00 to $73.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, June 20th. KeyCorp increased their price target on shares of Walmart from $63.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, May 17th. Citigroup increased their price target on shares of Walmart from $63.33 to $75.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 17th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Walmart from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, May 20th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $69.97.

Insider Transactions at Walmart

In other news, EVP John D. Rainey sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 directly owns 524,613 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $31,613,179.38. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, Director Timothy Patrick Flynn sold 30,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.82, for a total transaction of $1,944,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 144,807 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,386,389.74. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP John D. Rainey sold 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.26, for a total transaction of $180,780.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 524,613 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $31,613,179.38. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 14,502,762 shares of company stock valued at $951,475,618 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 45.58% of the company’s stock.

Walmart Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE WMT opened at $67.71 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $64.07 and a 200-day moving average price of $59.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.23. The stock has a market cap of $544.63 billion, a PE ratio of 28.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.91 and a beta of 0.52. Walmart Inc. has a 1 year low of $49.85 and a 1 year high of $69.04.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 16th. The retailer reported $0.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.52 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $161.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $159.57 billion. Walmart had a net margin of 2.88% and a return on equity of 21.57%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.49 earnings per share. Equities 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.