E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. Purchases New Shares in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)

E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. purchased a new stake in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor purchased 1,516 shares of the retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $137,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Driehaus Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Walmart by 25.2% during the second quarter. Driehaus Capital Management LLC now owns 13,461 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $911,000 after buying an additional 2,706 shares in the last quarter. Silver Lake Advisory LLC bought a new position in shares of Walmart in the second quarter worth about $263,000. Sunbelt Securities Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Walmart by 1.5% in the second quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 40,993 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $2,776,000 after acquiring an additional 620 shares during the last quarter. William B. Walkup & Associates Inc. bought a new position in shares of Walmart in the second quarter worth about $4,812,000. Finally, Second Line Capital LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Walmart by 4.5% in the second quarter. Second Line Capital LLC now owns 43,836 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $2,968,000 after acquiring an additional 1,896 shares during the last quarter. 26.76% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WMT has been the subject of a number of research reports. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Walmart from $100.00 to $106.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Walmart from $96.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 10th. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on shares of Walmart from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of Walmart from $80.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, November 18th. Finally, KeyCorp raised their price objective on shares of Walmart from $96.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $94.69.

Insider Transactions at Walmart

In other news, CEO C Douglas Mcmillon sold 29,124 shares of Walmart stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $92.62, for a total transaction of $2,697,464.88. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,766,491 shares in the company, valued at $348,852,396.42. The trade was a 0.77 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP John R. Furner sold 13,125 shares of Walmart stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $92.96, for a total value of $1,220,100.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 568,626 shares in the company, valued at $52,859,472.96. The trade was a 2.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 140,177 shares of company stock worth $12,895,688 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 45.58% of the company’s stock.

Walmart Price Performance

WMT opened at $97.39 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42, a current ratio of 0.85 and a quick ratio of 0.23. The company has a market capitalization of $782.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.97, a P/E/G ratio of 4.42 and a beta of 0.55. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $92.02 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $82.29. Walmart Inc. has a 1 year low of $54.51 and a 1 year high of $97.46.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 19th. The retailer reported $0.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $169.59 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $167.69 billion. Walmart had a net margin of 2.92% and a return on equity of 21.78%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.51 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Walmart Inc. will post 2.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Walmart Company 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.