AIA Group Ltd Acquires 7,896 Shares of Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)

AIA Group Ltd boosted its holdings in shares of Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT - Free Report) by 11.5% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 76,777 shares of the retailer's stock after purchasing an additional 7,896 shares during the period. AIA Group Ltd's holdings in Walmart were worth $6,740,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WMT. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in Walmart during the first quarter worth about $2,532,331,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in shares of Walmart by 9,896.9% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 7,939,728 shares of the retailer's stock worth $697,029,000 after buying an additional 7,860,306 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Walmart by 30.1% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 33,292,749 shares of the retailer's stock worth $2,922,770,000 after buying an additional 7,706,201 shares in the last quarter. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board increased its holdings in shares of Walmart by 28,684.8% during the first quarter. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board now owns 4,229,354 shares of the retailer's stock worth $371,295,000 after buying an additional 4,214,661 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in shares of Walmart by 8.9% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 43,641,936 shares of the retailer's stock worth $3,943,049,000 after buying an additional 3,550,037 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 26.76% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently weighed in on WMT shares. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $103.00 price objective (up previously from $102.00) on shares of Walmart in a report on Monday, June 9th. Telsey Advisory Group reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $115.00 price objective on shares of Walmart in a report on Monday, June 9th. KeyCorp raised their price objective on shares of Walmart from $105.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, June 9th. Tigress Financial raised their price objective on shares of Walmart from $115.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 2nd. Finally, Mizuho raised their price objective on shares of Walmart from $105.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday, June 9th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-one have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $106.67.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP John R. Furner sold 13,125 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, June 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $95.85, for a total value of $1,258,031.25. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 945,434 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $90,619,848.90. The trade was a 1.37% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP John D. Rainey sold 2,200 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $98.44, for a total transaction of $216,568.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 628,318 shares in the company, valued at $61,851,623.92. This represents a 0.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 146,112 shares of company stock valued at $14,080,073. 0.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Walmart Trading Up 0.6%

Shares of NYSE WMT opened at $103.77 on Monday. The company's fifty day moving average is $97.30 and its 200-day moving average is $95.39. The stock has a market cap of $828.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.35, a P/E/G ratio of 4.99 and a beta of 0.66. Walmart Inc. has a twelve month low of $67.14 and a twelve month high of $105.30. The company has a quick ratio of 0.22, a current ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 15th. The retailer reported $0.61 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.58 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $165.61 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $164.53 billion. Walmart had a net margin of 2.75% and a return on equity of 21.76%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 2.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.60 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Walmart Inc. will post 2.55 EPS 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.

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