Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. Makes New $24.57 Million Investment in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)

Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 408,282 shares of the retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $24,566,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Walmart by 199.4% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 411,745,334 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $24,774,717,000 after buying an additional 274,229,968 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its stake in shares of Walmart by 181.0% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 56,861,234 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $3,421,342,000 after buying an additional 36,625,314 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Walmart during the 4th quarter valued at about $3,674,652,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its stake 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 valued at $1,755,339,000 after buying an additional 18,865,484 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James & Associates raised its stake 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 valued at $844,514,000 after buying an additional 9,544,958 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 26.76% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Daniel J. Bartlett sold 2,398 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.50, for a total value of $166,661.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 463,871 shares in the company, valued at $32,239,034.50. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Walmart news, EVP Daniel J. Bartlett sold 2,398 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.50, for a total value of $166,661.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 463,871 shares in the company, valued at $32,239,034.50. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, major shareholder Alice L. Walton sold 1,132,123 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.02, for a total value of $73,610,637.46. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 647,371,888 shares in the company, valued at $42,092,120,157.76. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 14,540,863 shares of company stock worth $954,424,817. Corporate insiders own 45.58% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have weighed in on WMT. Piper Sandler started coverage on Walmart in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $81.00 price objective for the company. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on Walmart from $62.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, May 17th. UBS Group lifted their price target on Walmart from $63.00 to $69.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 7th. TD Cowen lifted their price target on Walmart from $68.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 17th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price target on Walmart from $71.00 to $77.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, July 1st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $71.60.

Walmart Trading Down 0.6 %

Shares of WMT traded down $0.44 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $69.18. 12,521,194 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 17,295,771. Walmart Inc. has a 52-week low of $49.85 and a 52-week high of $71.33. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $67.92 and a 200 day simple moving average of $61.98. The firm has a market cap of $556.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.84, a P/E/G ratio of 4.02 and a beta of 0.50. 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 (NYSE:WMT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 16th. The retailer reported $0.60 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.52 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $161.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $159.57 billion. Walmart had a return on equity of 21.57% and a net margin of 2.88%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 6.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.49 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Walmart Inc. will post 2.43 EPS for the current fiscal 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.