Alta Advisers Ltd Boosts Stock Holdings in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)

Alta Advisers Ltd boosted its position in shares of Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) by 213.9% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 11,300 shares of the retailer’s stock after buying an additional 7,700 shares during the period. Alta Advisers Ltd’s holdings in Walmart were worth $680,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of WMT. Seven Mile Advisory boosted its stake in shares of Walmart by 1.6% during the 3rd quarter. Seven Mile Advisory now owns 3,953 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $632,000 after acquiring an additional 61 shares in the last quarter. Flynn Zito Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Walmart by 3.9% during the 4th quarter. Flynn Zito Capital Management LLC now owns 1,636 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $258,000 after acquiring an additional 61 shares in the last quarter. ICW Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Walmart by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. ICW Investment Advisors LLC now owns 15,451 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $2,436,000 after acquiring an additional 62 shares in the last quarter. Bill Few Associates Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Walmart by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Bill Few Associates Inc. now owns 5,806 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $915,000 after acquiring an additional 64 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Gateway Advisory LLC boosted its stake in shares of Walmart by 4.1% during the 3rd quarter. Gateway Advisory LLC now owns 1,643 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $263,000 after acquiring an additional 65 shares in the last quarter. 26.76% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

WMT has been the topic of several research analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Walmart from $54.33 to $58.67 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, February 19th. DA Davidson lifted their price objective on Walmart from $69.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. StockNews.com downgraded Walmart from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday. Roth Mkm lifted their price objective on Walmart from $69.00 to $71.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on Walmart from $65.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-eight have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $68.01.

Walmart Stock Up 1.5 %

Walmart stock traded up $0.97 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $65.15. 16,967,040 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 18,832,119. The company’s 50-day moving average is $60.48 and its two-hundred day moving average is $56.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a quick ratio of 0.23 and a current ratio of 0.80. Walmart Inc. has a 52-week low of $48.34 and a 52-week high of $65.19. The firm has a market cap of $524.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.88, a PEG ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.49.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 16th. The retailer reported $0.60 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.52 by $0.08. Walmart had a net margin of 2.88% and a return on equity of 21.57%. The firm had revenue of $161.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $159.57 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.49 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 6.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts predict that Walmart Inc. will post 2.39 earnings per share for the current year.

Walmart Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, January 6th. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th will be given a dividend of $0.2075 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $0.83 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.27%. Walmart’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 35.52%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Walmart

In other Walmart news, SVP David Chojnowski sold 10,950 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.33, for a total value of $638,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 104,346 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,086,850. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other news, major shareholder Alice L. Walton sold 5,970,066 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.27, for a total value of $347,895,646.04. Following the sale, the insider now owns 671,082,588 shares in the company, valued at approximately $39,106,219,344.72. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP David Chojnowski sold 10,950 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.33, for a total transaction of $638,750.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 104,346 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,086,850. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 32,559,390 shares of company stock valued at $1,924,568,769 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 46.51% of the company’s stock.

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.