Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. Has $8.48 Million Stock Holdings in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)

Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. increased its stake in shares of Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) by 214.5% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 140,904 shares of the retailer’s stock after purchasing an additional 96,103 shares during the quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc.’s holdings in Walmart were worth $8,478,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. AHL Investment Management Inc. increased its position in Walmart by 192.1% in the 1st quarter. AHL Investment Management Inc. now owns 24,000 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,444,000 after acquiring an additional 15,785 shares during the period. Valley Brook Capital Group Inc. increased its position in Walmart by 4.2% in the 4th quarter. Valley Brook Capital Group Inc. now owns 7,816 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,232,000 after acquiring an additional 315 shares during the period. Core Wealth Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Walmart by 38.9% in the 4th quarter. Core Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 1,501 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $237,000 after purchasing an additional 420 shares during the last quarter. Motco boosted its stake in shares of Walmart by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Motco now owns 58,301 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $9,191,000 after purchasing an additional 726 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Private Advisor Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Walmart by 189.4% in the 1st quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 643,848 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $38,740,000 after purchasing an additional 421,366 shares during the last quarter. 26.76% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Walmart Stock Performance

Shares of WMT stock opened at $70.40 on Thursday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $65.56 and a 200-day moving average of $60.34. The company has a market cap of $566.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.09, a P/E/G ratio of 4.02 and a beta of 0.50. 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 Inc. has a one year low of $49.85 and a one year high of $70.44.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last announced its earnings results 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 company had revenue of $161.50 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $159.57 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.49 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Walmart Inc. will post 2.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently commented on WMT. Oppenheimer upped their price objective 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. StockNews.com lowered shares of Walmart from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, May 20th. Tigress Financial upped their price objective on shares of Walmart from $65.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 13th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on shares of Walmart from $69.00 to $71.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 2nd. Finally, KeyCorp increased their target price on shares of Walmart from $63.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” 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 data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $70.83.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, major shareholder Alice L. Walton sold 3,633,800 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $66.80, for a total transaction of $242,737,840.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 636,898,811 shares in the company, valued at $42,544,840,574.80. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other Walmart news, EVP John D. Rainey sold 25,578 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $67.58, for a total transaction of $1,728,561.24. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 390,165 shares in the company, valued at $26,367,350.70. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Alice L. Walton sold 3,633,800 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $66.80, for a total transaction of $242,737,840.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 636,898,811 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $42,544,840,574.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 14,525,340 shares of company stock worth $953,023,399. Insiders own 45.58% 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.