Comerica Bank boosted its stake in Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE:WMT) by 1.2% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 599,496 shares of the retailer’s stock after buying an additional 6,816 shares during the period. Comerica Bank’s holdings in Wal-Mart Stores were worth $45,226,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.
Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of WMT. AMG Funds LLC raised its stake in Wal-Mart Stores by 1.0% in the first quarter. AMG Funds LLC now owns 32,489 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $2,342,000 after buying an additional 331 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Shields & Co. LLC raised its stake in Wal-Mart Stores by 0.4% in the first quarter. Wellington Shields & Co. LLC now owns 3,661 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $264,000 after buying an additional 15 shares during the last quarter. AT Bancorp raised its stake in Wal-Mart Stores by 248.8% in the first quarter. AT Bancorp now owns 19,765 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,424,000 after buying an additional 14,099 shares during the last quarter. Altfest L J & Co. Inc. raised its stake in Wal-Mart Stores by 138.9% in the first quarter. Altfest L J & Co. Inc. now owns 22,956 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,655,000 after buying an additional 13,346 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Davis R M Inc. purchased a new stake in Wal-Mart Stores during the first quarter valued at about $249,000. 30.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
Shares of Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (WMT) opened at 75.87 on Thursday. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. has a 12-month low of $65.28 and a 12-month high of $80.47. The firm has a market cap of $228.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.23 and a beta of 0.28. The company has a 50-day moving average of $76.76 and a 200 day moving average of $72.85.
Wal-Mart Stores (NYSE:WMT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 18th. The retailer reported $1.00 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the Zacks’ consensus estimate of $0.96 by $0.04. Wal-Mart Stores had a net margin of 2.79% and a return on equity of 16.96%. The business had revenue of $116.53 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $117.01 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.98 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. will post $4.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
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Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Zacks Investment Research lowered shares of Wal-Mart Stores from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Vetr lowered shares of Wal-Mart Stores from a “sell” rating to a “strong sell” rating and set a $64.26 target price on the stock. in a research note on Monday. Jefferies Group LLC set a $88.00 target price on shares of Wal-Mart Stores and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday. Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (The) raised shares of Wal-Mart Stores from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $78.00 to $84.00 in a research note on Friday, July 14th. Finally, BidaskClub lowered shares of Wal-Mart Stores from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 12th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nineteen have issued a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company. The company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $78.11.
In other Wal-Mart Stores news, major shareholder Jim C. Walton sold 3,278,735 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.00, for a total transaction of $259,020,065.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 10,507,224 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $830,070,696. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, major shareholder Alice L. Walton sold 3,221,265 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.54, for a total transaction of $256,219,418.10. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 6,748,580 shares in the company, valued at approximately $536,782,053.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 23,006,720 shares of company stock worth $1,816,131,604. Corporate insiders own 51.39% of the company’s stock.
About Wal-Mart Stores
Wal-Mart Stores, Inc is engaged in the operation of retail, wholesale and other units in various formats around the world. The Company operates through three segments: Walmart U.S., Walmart International and Sam’s Club. The Walmart U.S. segment includes its mass merchant concept in the United States operating under the Walmart or Wal-Mart brands, as well as digital retail.
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