Darden Wealth Group Inc Raises Position in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)

Darden Wealth Group Inc grew its position in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) by 5.0% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 5,810 shares of the retailer’s stock after acquiring an additional 275 shares during the period. Darden Wealth Group Inc’s holdings in Walmart were worth $510,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Walmart during the fourth quarter worth about $5,737,355,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in Walmart by 9,896.9% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 7,939,728 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $697,029,000 after buying an additional 7,860,306 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in Walmart by 8.9% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 43,641,936 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $3,943,049,000 after buying an additional 3,550,037 shares in the last quarter. APG Asset Management N.V. boosted its holdings in Walmart by 1,707.6% during the fourth quarter. APG Asset Management N.V. now owns 3,718,058 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $324,410,000 after buying an additional 3,512,368 shares in the last quarter. Finally, DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main boosted its holdings in Walmart by 48.3% during the fourth quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 9,765,159 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $882,282,000 after buying an additional 3,182,477 shares in the last quarter. 26.76% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Walmart

In related news, CEO C Douglas Mcmillon sold 29,148 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $96.58, for a total value of $2,815,113.84. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 4,451,199 shares in the company, valued at $429,896,799.42. This trade represents a 0.65% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Kathryn J. Mclay sold 28,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $97.00, for a total transaction of $2,716,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 1,064,455 shares in the company, valued at $103,252,135. This represents a 2.56% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 142,695 shares of company stock valued at $13,710,162. 45.58% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Walmart Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:WMT traded down $0.09 on Friday, hitting $95.00. The stock had a trading volume of 1,896,853 shares, compared to its average volume of 18,051,874. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $96.85 and its 200-day moving average price is $94.59. The company has a market capitalization of $758.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.58 and a beta of 0.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a quick ratio of 0.22 and a current ratio of 0.78. Walmart Inc. has a twelve month low of $66.67 and a twelve month high of $105.30.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last issued its quarterly 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 2.75% and a return on equity of 21.76%. The business had revenue of $165.61 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $164.53 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.60 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 2.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts predict 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 given a dividend of $0.235 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 9th. This represents a yield of 0.95%. Walmart’s payout ratio is presently 40.17%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have issued reports on WMT. Sanford C. Bernstein restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Walmart in a research report on Monday, May 5th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Walmart from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, May 12th. KeyCorp increased their price objective on shares of Walmart from $105.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, June 9th. Raymond James Financial dropped their price objective on shares of Walmart from $115.00 to $105.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus decreased their target price on shares of Walmart from $93.00 to $91.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $106.67.

Walmart 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.