Empowered Funds LLC Increases Stock Position in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)

Empowered Funds LLC lifted its holdings in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT - Free Report) by 307.1% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 160,292 shares of the retailer's stock after purchasing an additional 120,919 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC's holdings in Walmart were worth $9,645,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

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Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. AHL Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in Walmart by 192.1% during the first quarter. AHL Investment Management Inc. now owns 24,000 shares of the retailer's stock valued at $1,444,000 after acquiring an additional 15,785 shares during the last quarter. Valley Brook Capital Group Inc. lifted its position in Walmart by 4.2% during the fourth quarter. Valley Brook Capital Group Inc. now owns 7,816 shares of the retailer's stock valued at $1,232,000 after acquiring an additional 315 shares during the last quarter. Core Wealth Advisors Inc. lifted its position in Walmart by 38.9% during the fourth quarter. Core Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 1,501 shares of the retailer's stock valued at $237,000 after acquiring an additional 420 shares during the last quarter. Liberty Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Walmart during the first quarter valued at approximately $270,000. Finally, Commerce Bank lifted its position in Walmart by 189.4% during the first quarter. Commerce Bank now owns 917,625 shares of the retailer's stock valued at $55,213,000 after acquiring an additional 600,521 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 26.76% of the company's stock.

Walmart Price Performance

Shares of WMT opened at $70.38 on Tuesday. Walmart Inc. has a 1-year low of $49.85 and a 1-year high of $71.33. The stock has a market cap of $566.10 billion, a PE ratio of 30.12, a P/E/G ratio of 4.08 and a beta of 0.50. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $67.16 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $61.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.23.

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Walmart (NYSE:WMT - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 16th. The retailer reported $0.60 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 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 business's revenue for the quarter was up 6.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Walmart Inc. will post 2.43 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Walmart

In other Walmart news, major shareholder Alice L. Walton sold 1,132,123 shares of Walmart stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 23rd. The shares were 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 directly owns 647,371,888 shares in the company, valued at $42,092,120,157.76. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, major shareholder Alice L. Walton sold 3,633,800 shares of Walmart stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $66.80, for a total value of $242,737,840.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 636,898,811 shares in the company, valued at $42,544,840,574.80. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Alice L. Walton sold 1,132,123 shares of Walmart stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.02, for a total transaction of $73,610,637.46. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 647,371,888 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $42,092,120,157.76. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 14,527,738 shares of company stock worth $953,190,060 over the last three months. Insiders own 45.58% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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A number of research firms have issued reports on WMT. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on shares of Walmart from $75.00 to $77.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, June 10th. Evercore ISI raised their price target on shares of Walmart from $73.00 to $74.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. HSBC increased their price objective on shares of Walmart from $70.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 11th. TD Cowen increased their price objective on shares of Walmart from $68.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, May 17th. Finally, KeyCorp raised their price target on shares of Walmart from $75.00 to $82.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-seven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Walmart currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $71.09.

View Our Latest Stock Report on WMT

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.

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