John D. Rainey Sells 25,578 Shares of Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) Stock

Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) EVP John D. Rainey sold 25,578 shares of Walmart stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $67.58, for a total value of $1,728,561.24. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 390,165 shares in the company, valued at $26,367,350.70. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link.

Walmart Stock Up 0.9 %

NYSE:WMT opened at $68.07 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $547.52 billion, a PE ratio of 29.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.91 and a beta of 0.50. Walmart Inc. has a 52 week low of $49.85 and a 52 week high of $69.04. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $64.22 and a 200-day moving average of $59.53.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 16th. The retailer reported $0.60 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.52 by $0.08. Walmart had a return on equity of 21.57% and a net margin of 2.88%. The firm had revenue of $161.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $159.57 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.49 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.0% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that Walmart Inc. will post 2.42 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WMT has been the subject of several research reports. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Walmart from $63.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 7th. Bank of America increased their price target on Walmart from $67.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 17th. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on Walmart from $72.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 20th. KeyCorp increased their target price on Walmart from $63.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 17th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Walmart from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $66.00 to $81.00 in a research report on Monday, June 10th. 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, Walmart has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $70.47.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Walmart by 199.4% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 411,745,334 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $24,774,717,000 after buying an additional 274,229,968 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its stake in shares of Walmart by 181.0% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 56,861,234 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $3,421,342,000 after purchasing an additional 36,625,314 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its holdings in shares of Walmart by 183.0% during the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 29,172,985 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,755,339,000 after purchasing an additional 18,865,484 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley raised its stake in shares of Walmart by 1.8% during 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. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Walmart in the fourth quarter worth about $3,674,652,000. Institutional investors own 26.76% of the company’s stock.

Walmart Company 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.