Viawealth LLC Lowers Position in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)

Viawealth LLC lessened its holdings in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) by 9.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 14,927 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 1,616 shares during the period. Viawealth LLC’s holdings in Walmart were worth $1,349,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in WMT. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Walmart during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $2,306,627,000. Jennison Associates LLC raised its holdings in Walmart by 479.6% in the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 18,479,259 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,492,200,000 after acquiring an additional 15,290,936 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its holdings in Walmart by 12.9% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 63,135,639 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $5,098,203,000 after acquiring an additional 7,200,004 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its holdings in Walmart by 14.0% in the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 32,020,800 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $2,893,079,000 after acquiring an additional 3,927,173 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Walmart by 3.3% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 87,617,409 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $7,048,465,000 after buying an additional 2,786,061 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 26.76% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on WMT shares. Oppenheimer lifted their target price on Walmart from $100.00 to $110.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Barclays reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of Walmart in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Erste Group Bank cut shares of Walmart from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday. 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. Finally, Tigress Financial lifted their price objective on shares of Walmart from $86.00 to $115.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Walmart currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $103.20.

Walmart Trading Up 0.9 %

NYSE:WMT opened at $86.36 on Thursday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $95.45 and its 200 day moving average price is $88.92. Walmart Inc. has a 52 week low of $58.56 and a 52 week high of $105.30. The company 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 quick ratio of 0.23 and a current ratio of 0.82.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last posted 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. The company had revenue of $180.55 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $178.83 billion. Walmart had a return on equity of 21.87% and a net margin of 2.85%. On average, research analysts forecast that Walmart Inc. will post 2.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Walmart Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP John D. Rainey sold 38,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $98.80, for a total transaction of $3,754,400.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 257,281 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $25,419,362.80. The trade was a 12.87 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Daniel J. Bartlett sold 1,600 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $103.99, for a total value of $166,384.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 423,597 shares in the company, valued at approximately $44,049,852.03. This represents a 0.38 % 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 over the last three months. 45.58% of the stock is currently owned by company 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.