AIMZ Investment Advisors LLC Trims Stake in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)

AIMZ Investment Advisors LLC decreased its position in shares of Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) by 1.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 49,175 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 627 shares during the quarter. Walmart makes up 1.5% of AIMZ Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 19th largest holding. AIMZ Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Walmart were worth $4,443,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. purchased a new position in Walmart during the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. Peterson Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in Walmart during the third quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Walmart in the fourth quarter worth approximately $27,000. Voisard Asset Management Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Walmart by 77.3% during the third quarter. Voisard Asset Management Group Inc. now owns 399 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 174 shares during the period. Finally, Decker Retirement Planning Inc. bought a new stake in Walmart during the 4th quarter valued at $32,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 26.76% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Walmart

In other news, CEO C Douglas Mcmillon sold 29,124 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $92.35, for a total transaction of $2,689,601.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 3,785,702 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $349,609,579.70. The trade was a 0.76 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Daniel J. Bartlett sold 1,600 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $103.99, for a total transaction 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 $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. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 146,528 shares of company stock valued at $13,849,185. Company insiders own 45.58% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently commented on the company. Citigroup reissued a “positive” rating on shares of Walmart in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. TD Cowen raised their price target on shares of Walmart from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. Tigress Financial boosted their price objective on shares of Walmart from $86.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on shares of Walmart from $89.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Walmart from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $103.07.

Walmart Price Performance

Shares of NYSE WMT opened at $96.88 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.23. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $95.77 and its 200-day simple moving average is $87.23. Walmart Inc. has a 12 month low of $58.20 and a 12 month high of $105.30. The stock has a market capitalization of $778.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.20, a PEG ratio of 4.42 and a beta of 0.55.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.64 by $0.02. Walmart had a net margin of 2.85% and a return on equity of 21.87%. The company had revenue of $180.55 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $178.83 billion. Analysts expect that Walmart Inc. will post 2.55 EPS for the current year.

Walmart Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, January 5th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 12th will be given a dividend of $0.235 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 12th. This represents a $0.94 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.97%. Walmart’s dividend payout ratio is currently 39.00%.

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.