Banque Pictet & Cie SA Has $2.27 Million Stake in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)

Banque Pictet & Cie SA lifted its holdings in shares of Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT - Free Report) by 110.1% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 25,840 shares of the retailer's stock after purchasing an additional 13,544 shares during the period. Banque Pictet & Cie SA's holdings in Walmart were worth $2,268,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of WMT. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Walmart in the 4th quarter valued at about $5,737,355,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in Walmart by 9,896.9% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 7,939,728 shares of the retailer's stock worth $697,029,000 after acquiring an additional 7,860,306 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised 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 valued at $3,943,049,000 after buying an additional 3,550,037 shares during the last quarter. APG Asset Management N.V. raised its holdings in shares of Walmart by 1,707.6% during the fourth quarter. APG Asset Management N.V. now owns 3,718,058 shares of the retailer's stock valued at $324,410,000 after buying an additional 3,512,368 shares during the last quarter. Finally, DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main raised its holdings in shares of Walmart by 48.3% during the fourth quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 9,765,159 shares of the retailer's stock valued at $882,282,000 after buying an additional 3,182,477 shares during the last quarter. 26.76% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Walmart

In related news, EVP John R. Furner sold 13,125 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 945,434 shares in the company, valued at $90,619,848.90. This represents a 1.37% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO C Douglas Mcmillon sold 29,148 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $96.58, for a total transaction of $2,815,113.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 4,451,199 shares in the company, valued at $429,896,799.42. This represents a 0.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 142,711 shares of company stock valued at $13,710,319 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 45.58% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on WMT shares. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on Walmart from $100.00 to $110.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, May 16th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Walmart from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, May 12th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective on shares of Walmart from $93.00 to $91.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Erste Group Bank lowered shares of Walmart from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their price objective on shares of Walmart from $105.00 to $107.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 4th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $106.67.

Walmart Price Performance

NYSE:WMT traded down $0.36 on Friday, reaching $94.50. The stock had a trading volume of 7,464,578 shares, compared to its average volume of 19,821,129. The company has a market capitalization of $754.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.66 and a beta of 0.68. Walmart Inc. has a 1-year low of $66.67 and a 1-year 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. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $97.19 and a 200-day moving average price of $94.48.

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

Walmart Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, May 27th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 12th were given a dividend of $0.235 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 9th. This represents a dividend yield of 0.95%. Walmart's payout ratio is 40.17%.

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.