Echo45 Advisors LLC Raises Stake in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)

Echo45 Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) by 4.1% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 4,972 shares of the retailer’s stock after purchasing an additional 198 shares during the period. Echo45 Advisors LLC’s holdings in Walmart were worth $436,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Tallon Kerry Patrick purchased a new position in shares of Walmart in the fourth quarter worth $252,000. LaFleur & Godfrey LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Walmart by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. LaFleur & Godfrey LLC now owns 69,542 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $6,283,000 after buying an additional 992 shares in the last quarter. Eagle Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Walmart by 9.1% in the fourth quarter. Eagle Capital Management LLC now owns 3,861 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $349,000 after buying an additional 321 shares in the last quarter. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Walmart by 28.8% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 98,150 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $8,868,000 after buying an additional 21,939 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA purchased a new position in shares of Walmart in the fourth quarter worth $10,645,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 26.76% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Sanford C. Bernstein reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Walmart in a report on Monday, May 5th. UBS Group lowered their target price on shares of Walmart from $112.00 to $110.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 10th. Roth Mkm reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $108.00 price target (up previously from $97.00) on shares of Walmart in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on shares of Walmart from $100.00 to $110.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, May 16th. Finally, Evercore ISI upped their price target on shares of Walmart from $105.00 to $107.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 4th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $106.50.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Walmart news, CEO C Douglas Mcmillon sold 29,124 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.63, for a total transaction of $2,493,888.12. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,972,517 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $340,166,630.71. This represents a 0.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Kathryn J. Mclay sold 4,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.95, for a total transaction of $343,800.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 888,309 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $76,350,158.55. The trade was a 0.45% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 137,534 shares of company stock worth $12,833,664 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 45.58% of the company’s stock.

Walmart Trading Down 1.7%

NYSE WMT opened at $95.70 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40. Walmart Inc. has a 12 month low of $65.90 and a 12 month high of $105.30. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $95.31 and its 200-day moving average price is $94.01. The stock has a market cap of $765.70 billion, a PE ratio of 39.71, a PEG ratio of 4.42 and a beta of 0.69.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 15th. The retailer reported $0.61 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.58 by $0.03. Walmart had a net margin of 2.85% and a return on equity of 21.87%. The company had revenue of $165.61 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $164.53 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.60 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 2.5% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Walmart Inc. will post 2.55 earnings per share for the current year.

Walmart Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, May 27th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 12th were issued a dividend of $0.235 per share. This represents a yield of 0.95%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 9th. Walmart’s payout ratio is 40.17%.

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.