Royal Fund Management LLC Purchases 1,968 Shares of Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)

Royal Fund Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) by 1.4% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 147,404 shares of the retailer’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,968 shares during the period. Walmart comprises approximately 1.2% of Royal Fund Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 16th largest holding. Royal Fund Management LLC’s holdings in Walmart were worth $13,395,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Peterson Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of Walmart during the third quarter valued at $26,000. Voisard Asset Management Group Inc. increased its holdings in Walmart by 77.3% in the third quarter. Voisard Asset Management Group Inc. now owns 399 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 174 shares during the period. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. bought a new position in Walmart during the 4th quarter worth $32,000. Hoese & Co LLP acquired a new position in Walmart during the 3rd quarter worth about $33,000. Finally, Livelsberger Financial Advisory bought a new stake in shares of Walmart in the 3rd quarter valued at about $36,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 26.76% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. StockNews.com lowered Walmart from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. KeyCorp boosted their price target on shares of Walmart from $96.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. DZ Bank cut shares of Walmart from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $91.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $105.00 target price on shares of Walmart in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price target on Walmart from $98.00 to $102.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $94.69.

Walmart Trading Up 1.2 %

Shares of Walmart stock opened at $93.05 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $747.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.36 and a beta of 0.55. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $91.31 and a 200 day simple moving average of $81.63. Walmart Inc. has a 12-month low of $53.44 and a 12-month high of $96.18. The company has a current ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 0.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, November 19th. The retailer reported $0.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.53 by $0.05. Walmart had a net margin of 2.92% and a return on equity of 21.78%. The firm had revenue of $169.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $167.69 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.51 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Walmart Inc. will post 2.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Walmart

In related news, CEO C Douglas Mcmillon sold 29,124 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $82.79, for a total transaction of $2,411,175.96. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,843,929 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $318,238,881.91. This trade represents a 0.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP John D. Rainey sold 3,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $82.12, for a total value of $246,360.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 378,165 shares in the company, valued at approximately $31,054,909.80. This represents a 0.79 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 140,177 shares of company stock worth $12,478,149. Insiders own 45.58% of the company’s stock.

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.