Vontobel Holding Ltd. Raises Position in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)

Vontobel Holding Ltd. boosted its position in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT - Free Report) by 4.4% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 290,542 shares of the retailer's stock after buying an additional 12,227 shares during the period. Vontobel Holding Ltd.'s holdings in Walmart were worth $25,507,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Rovin Capital UT ADV lifted its holdings in Walmart by 7.1% in the first quarter. Rovin Capital UT ADV now owns 3,152 shares of the retailer's stock valued at $277,000 after buying an additional 210 shares during the period. Astoria Portfolio Advisors LLC. acquired a new position in shares of Walmart during the first quarter valued at about $1,160,000. ABLE Financial Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Walmart by 15.6% during the first quarter. ABLE Financial Group LLC now owns 10,911 shares of the retailer's stock valued at $958,000 after purchasing an additional 1,474 shares during the period. Mather Group LLC. raised its holdings in shares of Walmart by 2.6% during the first quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 50,393 shares of the retailer's stock valued at $4,424,000 after purchasing an additional 1,290 shares during the period. Finally, Heritage Investment Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Walmart by 25.4% during the first quarter. Heritage Investment Group Inc. now owns 2,958 shares of the retailer's stock valued at $260,000 after purchasing an additional 600 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 26.76% of the company's stock.

Walmart Trading Up 0.7%

NYSE:WMT traded up $0.68 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $98.29. The company's stock had a trading volume of 7,686,204 shares, compared to its average volume of 18,082,978. The firm has a market capitalization of $784.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.00, a PEG ratio of 4.73 and a beta of 0.68. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $97.14 and a 200-day simple moving average of $94.35. Walmart Inc. has a 1 year low of $66.67 and a 1 year high of $105.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a quick ratio of 0.22 and a current ratio of 0.78.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 15th. The retailer reported $0.61 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.58 by $0.03. The firm 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 company's revenue for the quarter was up 2.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.60 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Walmart Inc. will post 2.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Walmart Dividend Announcement

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on WMT shares. Sanford C. Bernstein reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of Walmart in a report on Monday, May 5th. Mizuho upped their price objective on shares of Walmart from $105.00 to $115.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday, June 9th. KeyCorp upped their price objective on shares of Walmart from $105.00 to $110.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, June 9th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price objective on shares of Walmart from $93.00 to $91.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Finally, DA Davidson reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $117.00 price objective on shares of Walmart in a report on Friday, May 16th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Walmart currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $106.67.

Insider Buying and Selling at Walmart

In other Walmart news, EVP John D. Rainey sold 2,200 shares of Walmart stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $98.44, for a total value of $216,568.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 628,318 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $61,851,623.92. The trade was a 0.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Daniel J. Bartlett sold 1,760 shares of Walmart stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $94.77, for a total transaction of $166,795.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 650,977 shares of the company's stock, valued at $61,693,090.29. This trade represents a 0.27% 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 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.