TCW Group Inc. Raises Stake in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)

TCW Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) by 3.4% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 62,938 shares of the retailer’s stock after buying an additional 2,041 shares during the quarter. TCW Group Inc.’s holdings in Walmart were worth $4,262,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. EntryPoint Capital LLC purchased a new position in Walmart in the first quarter valued at about $25,000. Northwest Capital Management Inc raised its holdings in Walmart by 199.3% in the 1st quarter. Northwest Capital Management Inc now owns 440 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 293 shares during the last quarter. TruNorth Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Walmart by 138.3% during the 2nd quarter. TruNorth Capital Management LLC now owns 429 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 249 shares during the period. Partnership Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Walmart during the fourth quarter worth $30,000. Finally, Able Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Walmart in the fourth quarter valued at $30,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 26.76% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Walmart news, major shareholder Alice L. Walton sold 3,633,800 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $66.80, for a total transaction of $242,737,840.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 636,898,811 shares in the company, valued at $42,544,840,574.80. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, major shareholder Alice L. Walton sold 3,633,800 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the insider now owns 636,898,811 shares in the company, valued at $42,544,840,574.80. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, major shareholder Alice L. Walton sold 1,132,123 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.02, for a total value 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 $42,092,120,157.76. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 11,000,613 shares of company stock valued at $725,932,010. Company insiders own 45.58% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently weighed in on WMT. TD Cowen increased their target price on Walmart from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Guggenheim upped their price target on shares of Walmart from $75.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on shares of Walmart from $69.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 6th. UBS Group upped their target price on Walmart from $74.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price target on Walmart from $63.33 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 17th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $77.79.

Walmart Stock Up 0.7 %

Shares of WMT stock traded up $0.48 on Friday, hitting $73.45. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 19,872,144 shares, compared to its average volume of 17,647,650. The stock has a market capitalization of $590.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.39, a P/E/G ratio of 3.95 and a beta of 0.50. Walmart Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $49.85 and a fifty-two week high of $74.44. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $68.86 and its 200-day moving average price is $63.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.23.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, August 15th. The retailer reported $0.67 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.65 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $169.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $168.56 billion. Walmart had a return on equity of 21.57% and a net margin of 2.88%. The business’s revenue was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.61 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate 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.