Leavell Investment Management Inc. Purchases 119,296 Shares of Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)

Leavell Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) by 241.1% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 168,767 shares of the retailer’s stock after buying an additional 119,296 shares during the period. Leavell Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Walmart were worth $10,190,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in WMT. WealthPlan Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of Walmart by 122.7% in the third quarter. WealthPlan Investment Management LLC now owns 45,611 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $7,295,000 after buying an additional 25,127 shares in the last quarter. Compass Ion Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Walmart by 128.0% in the third quarter. Compass Ion Advisors LLC now owns 4,026 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $644,000 after buying an additional 2,260 shares in the last quarter. Advisor OS LLC raised its position in shares of Walmart by 3.3% in the third quarter. Advisor OS LLC now owns 3,901 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $624,000 after buying an additional 125 shares in the last quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management raised its position in shares of Walmart by 17.7% in the third quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management now owns 9,141 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,462,000 after buying an additional 1,374 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Main Street Financial Solutions LLC raised its position in shares of Walmart by 9.5% in the third quarter. Main Street Financial Solutions LLC now owns 11,171 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,787,000 after buying an additional 966 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 26.76% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Walmart news, major shareholder Jim C. Walton sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.78, for a total value of $117,560.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 656,395,261 shares in the company, valued at $38,582,913,441.58. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other news, major shareholder Alice L. Walton sold 500,000 shares of Walmart stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.39, for a total transaction of $29,195,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 653,067,261 shares in the company, valued at $38,132,597,369.79. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Jim C. Walton sold 2,000 shares of Walmart stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.78, for a total transaction of $117,560.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 656,395,261 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $38,582,913,441.58. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 20,763,075 shares of company stock worth $1,239,224,994 over the last three months. Company insiders own 46.51% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WMT has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Evercore ISI increased their target price on Walmart from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday. Bank of America increased their target price on Walmart from $67.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 17th. Barclays increased their target price on Walmart from $60.00 to $66.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on Walmart from $65.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, May 17th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on Walmart from $62.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, May 17th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Walmart presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $68.01.

Walmart Trading Down 0.6 %

Shares of NYSE WMT traded down $0.40 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $64.85. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 16,214,882 shares, compared to its average volume of 18,767,791. 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 12 month low of $48.34 and a 12 month high of $65.69. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $60.56 and a 200-day simple moving average of $56.71. The stock has a market cap of $522.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.97, a P/E/G ratio of 3.76 and a beta of 0.49.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 16th. The retailer reported $0.60 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 analyst estimates of $159.57 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.49 earnings per share. Walmart’s quarterly revenue was up 6.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that Walmart Inc. will post 2.42 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Walmart Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, January 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be issued a $0.2075 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $0.83 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.28%. Walmart’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 35.52%.

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.