First Commonwealth Financial Corp PA Buys 17,974 Shares of Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)

First Commonwealth Financial Corp PA raised its stake in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) by 201.2% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 26,906 shares of the retailer’s stock after acquiring an additional 17,974 shares during the period. First Commonwealth Financial Corp PA’s holdings in Walmart were worth $1,619,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Walmart by 199.4% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 411,745,334 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $24,774,717,000 after purchasing an additional 274,229,968 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Walmart during the 4th quarter worth $3,674,652,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its position in shares of Walmart by 183.0% during the 1st quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 29,172,985 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,755,339,000 after buying an additional 18,865,484 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates lifted its position in shares of Walmart by 212.6% during the 1st quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 14,035,473 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $844,514,000 after buying an additional 9,544,958 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Swiss National Bank boosted its stake in Walmart by 187.4% in the first quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 13,303,200 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $800,454,000 after buying an additional 8,674,100 shares in the last quarter. 26.76% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WMT has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Walmart from $60.00 to $66.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, May 20th. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Walmart from $63.33 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 17th. Raymond James upped their price target on shares of Walmart from $63.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, May 17th. HSBC boosted their price objective on Walmart from $70.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 11th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on Walmart from $64.33 to $73.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 17th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $71.60.

Insider Activity at Walmart

In other Walmart news, EVP John R. Furner sold 13,125 shares of Walmart stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.60, for a total transaction of $926,625.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 632,415 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $44,648,499. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In related news, major shareholder Alice L. Walton sold 3,633,800 shares of the firm’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 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 is accessible through this link. Also, EVP John R. Furner sold 13,125 shares of Walmart stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.60, for a total transaction of $926,625.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 632,415 shares in the company, valued at approximately $44,648,499. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 14,540,863 shares of company stock valued at $954,424,817 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 45.58% of the company’s stock.

Walmart Stock Down 0.3 %

Shares of Walmart stock traded down $0.23 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $69.79. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 16,787,927 shares, compared to its average volume of 17,377,965. 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 one year low of $49.85 and a one year high of $71.33. The company has a market capitalization of $561.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.69, a P/E/G ratio of 4.07 and a beta of 0.50. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $67.71 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $61.63.

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 return on equity of 21.57% and a net margin of 2.88%. The firm had revenue of $161.50 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $159.57 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.49 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 6.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that Walmart Inc. will post 2.43 earnings per share 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.