Symphony Financial Ltd. Co. Buys 26,269 Shares of Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)

Symphony Financial Ltd. Co. increased its stake in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) by 205.7% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 39,040 shares of the retailer’s stock after buying an additional 26,269 shares during the quarter. Symphony Financial Ltd. Co.’s holdings in Walmart were worth $2,349,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in WMT. Private Ocean LLC lifted its stake in Walmart by 203.8% in the first quarter. Private Ocean LLC now owns 1,841 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $111,000 after acquiring an additional 1,235 shares during the last quarter. Vicus Capital lifted its stake in Walmart by 220.2% in the 1st quarter. Vicus Capital now owns 7,857 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $473,000 after purchasing an additional 5,403 shares during the last quarter. Ridgecrest Wealth Partners LLC grew its holdings in Walmart by 201.8% during the first quarter. Ridgecrest Wealth Partners LLC now owns 8,417 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $506,000 after purchasing an additional 5,628 shares during the period. Alpha Omega Wealth Management LLC increased its position in Walmart by 183.6% during the first quarter. Alpha Omega Wealth Management LLC now owns 7,161 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $431,000 after buying an additional 4,636 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Chemung Canal Trust Co. raised its stake in Walmart by 199.5% in the first quarter. Chemung Canal Trust Co. now owns 135,733 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $8,167,000 after buying an additional 90,418 shares during the period. 26.76% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Barclays increased their price target on 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 increased their price objective for the company from $66.00 to $81.00 in a research report on Monday, June 10th. DA Davidson lifted their target price on shares of Walmart from $69.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 17th. Oppenheimer upped their price target on shares of Walmart from $69.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 6th. Finally, Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Walmart from $63.33 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 17th. 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, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $69.97.

Walmart Stock Performance

Shares of Walmart stock opened at $67.71 on Monday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $64.07 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $59.41. The firm has a market capitalization of $544.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.98, a P/E/G ratio of 3.91 and a beta of 0.50. Walmart Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $49.85 and a fifty-two week high of $69.04. 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 (NYSE:WMT) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 company had revenue of $161.50 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $159.57 billion. Walmart had a return on equity of 21.57% and a net margin of 2.88%. Walmart’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.49 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Walmart Inc. will post 2.42 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other Walmart news, SVP David Chojnowski sold 8,791 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.00, for a total transaction of $597,788.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 94,415 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,420,220. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, SVP David Chojnowski sold 8,791 shares of Walmart stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.00, for a total transaction of $597,788.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 94,415 shares in the company, valued at $6,420,220. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Alice L. Walton sold 1,132,123 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.02, for a total value of $73,610,637.46. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 647,371,888 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $42,092,120,157.76. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 14,499,762 shares of company stock valued at $951,294,838 over the last quarter. 45.58% of the stock is owned by company 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.