Daiwa Securities Group Inc. Boosts Holdings in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)

Daiwa Securities Group Inc. boosted its position in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) by 8.0% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 718,194 shares of the retailer’s stock after purchasing an additional 53,306 shares during the quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc.’s holdings in Walmart were worth $57,994,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of WMT. WFA Asset Management Corp lifted its stake in Walmart by 201.0% in the 1st quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 2,092 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $126,000 after purchasing an additional 1,397 shares in the last quarter. Dupont Capital Management Corp increased its holdings in shares of Walmart by 165.4% in the 1st quarter. Dupont Capital Management Corp now owns 270,147 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $16,255,000 after buying an additional 168,346 shares during the last quarter. EntryPoint Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Walmart in the 1st quarter worth $25,000. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Walmart by 168.9% in the 1st quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. now owns 1,531,461 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $92,148,000 after buying an additional 961,936 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Lazard Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Walmart by 500.4% in the 1st quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 425,387 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $25,595,000 after buying an additional 354,535 shares during the last quarter. 26.76% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Walmart

In other news, EVP John D. Rainey sold 3,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $82.12, for a total value of $246,360.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 378,165 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $31,054,909.80. This represents a 0.79 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder S Robson Walton sold 4,057,369 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.20, for a total transaction of $313,228,886.80. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 611,988,318 shares in the company, valued at $47,245,498,149.60. This represents a 0.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 12,337,337 shares of company stock valued at $958,823,647 in the last three months. 45.58% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently commented on WMT. Evercore ISI increased their price target on shares of Walmart from $66.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, November 18th. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price target on shares of Walmart from $98.00 to $102.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday. Redburn Atlantic raised shares of Walmart to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, September 23rd. StockNews.com lowered shares of Walmart from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on shares of Walmart from $88.00 to $92.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, November 18th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $91.88.

Walmart Stock Up 2.3 %

Shares of NYSE WMT opened at $90.44 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 0.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56. Walmart Inc. has a 12 month low of $49.85 and a 12 month high of $90.91. The firm has a market capitalization of $726.98 billion, a PE ratio of 37.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.30 and a beta of 0.51. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $82.12 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $73.84.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 19th. The retailer reported $0.58 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.53 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $169.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $167.69 billion. Walmart had a net margin of 2.92% and a return on equity of 21.78%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.51 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Walmart Inc. will post 2.47 earnings per share for the current year.

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.