Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD Has $4.22 Billion Stake in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)

Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD reduced its stake in shares of Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) by 12.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 46,713,440 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 6,375,278 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD’s holdings in Walmart were worth $4,220,560,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in WMT. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Walmart by 14.9% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 6,235,504 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $503,517,000 after buying an additional 809,352 shares during the last quarter. Virtu Financial LLC bought a new position in Walmart in the 3rd quarter worth $541,000. SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. lifted its position in Walmart by 4.2% during the 3rd quarter. SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. now owns 9,052 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $731,000 after acquiring an additional 364 shares during the last quarter. Aldebaran Financial Inc. boosted its holdings in Walmart by 10.9% during the third quarter. Aldebaran Financial Inc. now owns 22,250 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,797,000 after acquiring an additional 2,191 shares during the period. Finally, Tudor Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Walmart in the third quarter valued at about $504,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 26.76% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Walmart

In related news, CEO C Douglas Mcmillon sold 29,124 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $92.62, for a total value of $2,697,464.88. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 3,766,491 shares in the company, valued at $348,852,396.42. This trade represents a 0.77 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Daniel J. Bartlett sold 1,600 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $103.99, for a total value of $166,384.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 423,597 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $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. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 178,782 shares of company stock worth $16,785,305. Insiders own 45.58% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. Telsey Advisory Group reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $115.00 price objective on shares of Walmart in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. UBS Group reduced their price objective on Walmart from $112.00 to $110.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. Oppenheimer dropped their target price on shares of Walmart from $110.00 to $95.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 7th. Royal Bank of Canada cut their target price on shares of Walmart from $107.00 to $102.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price target on shares of Walmart from $93.00 to $91.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Walmart has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $103.58.

Walmart Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:WMT opened at $94.91 on Wednesday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $91.09 and a 200-day moving average of $90.51. 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 Inc. has a twelve month low of $58.56 and a twelve month high of $105.30. The firm has a market cap of $760.88 billion, a PE ratio of 39.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.42 and a beta of 0.69.

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. Walmart had a net margin of 2.85% and a return on equity of 21.87%. The firm had revenue of $180.55 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $178.83 billion. On average, equities research analysts predict that Walmart Inc. will post 2.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Walmart Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, January 5th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 12th will be issued a dividend of $0.235 per share. This represents a $0.94 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.99%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 12th. Walmart’s dividend payout ratio is 39.00%.

Walmart Company Profile

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.