Dumont & Blake Investment Advisors LLC lowered its stake in Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE:WMT) by 1.6% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 23,306 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 380 shares during the period. Dumont & Blake Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Wal-Mart Stores were worth $1,680,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.
A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WMT. Dodge & Cox acquired a new position in shares of Wal-Mart Stores during the fourth quarter worth about $1,503,922,000. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main acquired a new position in shares of Wal-Mart Stores during the fourth quarter worth about $274,739,000. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board raised its position in shares of Wal-Mart Stores by 161.4% in the first quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 3,297,419 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $237,678,000 after buying an additional 2,035,800 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Wal-Mart Stores by 23.7% in the fourth quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 8,810,593 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $608,988,000 after buying an additional 1,689,794 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Highfields Capital Management LP acquired a new position in shares of Wal-Mart Stores during the fourth quarter worth about $69,120,000. 30.00% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.
Shares of Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (WMT) traded up 0.26% during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $80.98. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 11,535,953 shares. The company has a 50-day moving average of $77.90 and a 200 day moving average of $74.51. The company has a market cap of $244.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.39 and a beta of 0.29. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. has a 1-year low of $65.28 and a 1-year high of $81.99.
Wal-Mart Stores (NYSE:WMT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 18th. The retailer reported $1.00 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the Thomson Reuters’ 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 firm earned $0.98 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. will post $4.37 EPS for the current year.
Several research firms recently issued reports on WMT. Sanford C. Bernstein reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Wal-Mart Stores in a research report on Saturday, May 13th. UBS AG reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $80.00 price target (up from $73.00) on shares of Wal-Mart Stores in a research report on Sunday, May 21st. BidaskClub raised Wal-Mart Stores from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 11th. Cowen and Company set a $86.00 price target on Wal-Mart Stores and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, August 7th. Finally, Jefferies Group LLC set a $88.00 price target on Wal-Mart Stores and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 11th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eighteen have assigned a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Wal-Mart Stores currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $79.83.
In related news, Director S Robson Walton sold 1,618,300 shares of Wal-Mart Stores stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.22, for a total value of $129,820,026.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 3,344,956 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $268,332,370.32. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider David Chojnowski sold 5,142 shares of Wal-Mart Stores stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $79.36, for a total transaction of $408,069.12. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 23,006,720 shares of company stock worth $1,816,131,604. 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.
Receive News & Ratings for Wal-Mart Stores Inc. Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter.
