Guardian Capital Advisors LP Acquires 79,716 Shares of Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)

Guardian Capital Advisors LP raised its holdings in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) by 99.4% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 159,922 shares of the retailer’s stock after purchasing an additional 79,716 shares during the period. Guardian Capital Advisors LP’s holdings in Walmart were worth $9,539,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. AHL Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Walmart by 192.1% in the 1st quarter. AHL Investment Management Inc. now owns 24,000 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,444,000 after purchasing an additional 15,785 shares during the last quarter. Valley Brook Capital Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Walmart by 4.2% in the 4th quarter. Valley Brook Capital Group Inc. now owns 7,816 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,232,000 after purchasing an additional 315 shares during the last quarter. Core Wealth Advisors Inc. grew its holdings 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 worth $237,000 after purchasing an additional 420 shares during the last quarter. Liberty Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Walmart in the 1st quarter worth about $270,000. Finally, Commerce Bank grew its holdings in shares of Walmart by 189.4% in the 1st quarter. Commerce Bank now owns 917,625 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $55,213,000 after purchasing an additional 600,521 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 26.76% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Walmart

In other Walmart news, major shareholder Alice L. Walton sold 1,132,123 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.02, for a total transaction 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 approximately $42,092,120,157.76. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other Walmart news, major shareholder Alice L. Walton sold 1,132,123 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.02, for a total transaction 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 approximately $42,092,120,157.76. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP John D. Rainey sold 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.08, for a total value of $177,240.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 521,613 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $30,816,896.04. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 14,540,863 shares of company stock valued at $954,424,817 in the last quarter. 45.58% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Walmart Stock Down 0.3 %

Shares of NYSE:WMT traded down $0.24 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $69.78. The stock had a trading volume of 16,789,306 shares, compared to its average volume of 12,217,879. Walmart Inc. has a 12 month low of $49.85 and a 12 month high of $71.33. The company has a quick ratio of 0.23, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $67.81 and its 200-day simple moving average is $61.81. The company has a market cap of $561.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.86, a PEG ratio of 4.04 and a beta of 0.50.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last released its earnings results 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. Walmart had a net margin of 2.88% and a return on equity of 21.57%. The business had revenue of $161.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $159.57 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.49 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 6.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Walmart Inc. will post 2.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Tigress Financial upped their price target on shares of Walmart from $75.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. TD Cowen upped their price target on shares of Walmart from $68.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 17th. Roth Mkm upped their price target on shares of Walmart from $69.00 to $71.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 17th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Walmart from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Walmart from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 17th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-eight have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $71.60.

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.