19,031 Shares in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) Acquired by Focus Financial Network Inc. ADV

Focus Financial Network Inc. ADV bought a new position in shares of Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm bought 19,031 shares of the retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $3,011,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Stifel Financial Corp lifted its stake in shares of Walmart by 17.9% during the 4th quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 4,234,655 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $667,608,000 after purchasing an additional 643,816 shares during the last quarter. Portfolio Design Labs LLC purchased a new position in Walmart in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,544,000. TD Asset Management Inc raised its holdings in Walmart by 17.7% in the fourth quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 986,233 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $155,480,000 after purchasing an additional 148,350 shares in the last quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC lifted its position in shares of Walmart by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 234,805 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $37,017,000 after buying an additional 4,337 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pine Valley Investments Ltd Liability Co boosted its holdings in shares of Walmart by 14.1% in the 4th quarter. Pine Valley Investments Ltd Liability Co now owns 16,990 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $2,683,000 after buying an additional 2,102 shares in the last quarter. 26.76% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Walmart Stock Performance

Shares of WMT traded up $0.01 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $65.05. The stock had a trading volume of 3,767,969 shares, compared to its average volume of 18,500,396. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $60.91 and a 200 day moving average price of $57.01. Walmart Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $48.34 and a fifty-two week high of $65.69. The firm has a market capitalization of $524.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.81, a PEG ratio of 3.77 and a beta of 0.49. 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 (NYSE:WMT) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 16th. The retailer reported $0.60 earnings per share (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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $159.57 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.49 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Walmart Inc. will post 2.42 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WMT has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on shares of Walmart from $64.33 to $73.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 17th. Tigress Financial increased their price objective on Walmart from $65.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 13th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Walmart from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 17th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on Walmart from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 17th. Finally, Bank of America raised their price target on Walmart from $67.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 17th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $68.01.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director S Robson Walton sold 3,540,250 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.55, for a total transaction of $228,523,137.50. Following the transaction, the director now owns 648,504,011 shares in the company, valued at approximately $41,860,933,910.05. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other Walmart news, CEO C Douglas Mcmillon sold 29,124 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.23, for a total transaction of $1,899,758.52. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,989,526 shares in the company, valued at approximately $260,236,780.98. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director S Robson Walton sold 3,540,250 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.55, for a total value of $228,523,137.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 648,504,011 shares in the company, valued at approximately $41,860,933,910.05. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 8,205,908 shares of company stock worth $517,296,259 over the last three months. 45.58% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.