Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS Has $83.39 Million Position in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)

Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS decreased its holdings in shares of Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) by 2.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 922,953 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 22,588 shares during the quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS’s holdings in Walmart were worth $83,389,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WMT. Coyle Financial Counsel LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Walmart by 3.1% during the 4th quarter. Coyle Financial Counsel LLC now owns 3,431 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $310,000 after buying an additional 102 shares during the period. SC&H Financial Advisors Inc. lifted its position in Walmart by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. SC&H Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 10,232 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $924,000 after acquiring an additional 103 shares during the last quarter. Blackston Financial Advisory Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Walmart by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Blackston Financial Advisory Group LLC now owns 15,685 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,417,000 after acquiring an additional 106 shares during the period. Van Strum & Towne Inc. grew its position in shares of Walmart by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Van Strum & Towne Inc. now owns 6,849 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $619,000 after purchasing an additional 108 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Scarborough Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Walmart by 2.0% during the fourth quarter. Scarborough Advisors LLC now owns 5,584 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $505,000 after purchasing an additional 109 shares during the period. 26.76% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently issued reports on WMT. Bank of America boosted their price target on Walmart from $95.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. TD Cowen boosted their target price on shares of Walmart from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. Evercore ISI lowered their price target on shares of Walmart from $107.00 to $100.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price objective on shares of Walmart from $109.00 to $107.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 21st. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on shares of Walmart from $89.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $103.20.

Walmart Stock Performance

Shares of Walmart stock opened at $86.36 on Thursday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $95.45 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $88.92. The firm has a market capitalization of $693.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.84, a P/E/G ratio of 4.42 and a beta of 0.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.23. Walmart Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $58.56 and a fifty-two week high of $105.30.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 20th. The retailer reported $0.66 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.64 by $0.02. Walmart had a return on equity of 21.87% and a net margin of 2.85%. The company had revenue of $180.55 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $178.83 billion. On average, equities analysts forecast that Walmart Inc. will post 2.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Walmart Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, January 5th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 12th will be paid a $0.235 dividend. This represents a $0.94 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.09%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 12th. Walmart’s dividend payout ratio is currently 39.00%.

Insider Activity at Walmart

In related news, EVP John R. Furner sold 13,125 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $96.15, for a total value of $1,261,968.75. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 460,672 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $44,293,612.80. The trade was a 2.77 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO C Douglas Mcmillon sold 29,124 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $92.35, for a total value of $2,689,601.40. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,785,702 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $349,609,579.70. This represents a 0.76 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 185,777 shares of company stock worth $17,657,316 in the last quarter. 45.58% of the stock is owned by 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.