L. Roy Papp & Associates LLP Increases Holdings in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)

L. Roy Papp & Associates LLP boosted its position in shares of Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) by 6.7% during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 17,805 shares of the retailer’s stock after buying an additional 1,116 shares during the period. L. Roy Papp & Associates LLP’s holdings in Walmart were worth $1,206,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. EntryPoint Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Walmart during the first quarter valued at $25,000. Northwest Capital Management Inc grew its holdings in Walmart by 199.3% during the 1st quarter. Northwest Capital Management Inc now owns 440 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 293 shares in the last quarter. TruNorth Capital Management LLC increased its position in Walmart by 138.3% during the 2nd quarter. TruNorth Capital Management LLC now owns 429 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 249 shares during the period. Cultivar Capital Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Walmart in the 2nd quarter valued at about $29,000. Finally, Partnership Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Walmart in the 4th quarter worth approximately $30,000. 26.76% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Walmart

In other news, Director S Robson Walton sold 1,562,239 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.00, for a total transaction of $101,545,535.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 642,949,611 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $41,791,724,715. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, Director S Robson Walton sold 1,562,239 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.00, for a total transaction of $101,545,535.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 642,949,611 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $41,791,724,715. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP John D. Rainey sold 3,000 shares of Walmart stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.19, for a total value of $207,570.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 387,165 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,787,946.35. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 8,827,328 shares of company stock valued at $584,261,549. 45.58% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently issued reports on WMT. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Walmart from $81.00 to $83.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, August 16th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on Walmart from $74.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, August 16th. Bank of America raised their price objective on Walmart from $75.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 16th. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on shares of Walmart from $69.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, June 6th. Finally, Tigress Financial raised their price target on shares of Walmart from $75.00 to $86.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Walmart presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $78.64.

Walmart Stock Performance

Shares of Walmart stock traded up $0.12 during trading on Friday, hitting $75.70. 12,273,538 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 17,546,648. Walmart Inc. has a 52-week low of $49.85 and a 52-week high of $76.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a quick ratio of 0.22 and a current ratio of 0.80. The stock has a market capitalization of $608.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.16, a PEG ratio of 4.04 and a beta of 0.50. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $69.51 and a 200-day simple moving average of $63.85.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 15th. The retailer reported $0.67 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.65 by $0.02. Walmart had a return on equity of 21.72% and a net margin of 2.34%. The business had revenue of $169.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $168.56 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.61 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that Walmart Inc. will post 2.43 EPS for the current year.

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.