Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) Stock Position Reduced by Motco

Motco lessened its stake in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) by 7.5% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 151,270 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 12,219 shares during the quarter. Walmart makes up 1.4% of Motco’s holdings, making the stock its 14th largest position. Motco’s holdings in Walmart were worth $13,667,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Walmart in the fourth quarter worth $25,000. Peterson Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Walmart during the 3rd quarter worth about $26,000. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Walmart during the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. Voisard Asset Management Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Walmart by 77.3% in the 3rd quarter. Voisard Asset Management Group Inc. now owns 399 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 174 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Decker Retirement Planning Inc. acquired a new position in Walmart in the fourth quarter worth approximately $32,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 26.76% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Walmart

In related news, CEO C Douglas Mcmillon sold 29,124 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $92.35, for a total transaction of $2,689,601.40. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,785,702 shares in the company, valued at $349,609,579.70. This represents a 0.76 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP John D. Rainey sold 3,000 shares of Walmart stock in a transaction on Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $92.47, for a total value of $277,410.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 375,165 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $34,691,507.55. The trade was a 0.79 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 146,528 shares of company stock valued at $13,849,185 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 45.58% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WMT has been the subject of several recent research reports. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of Walmart from $94.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on shares of Walmart from $89.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Walmart from $97.00 to $112.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, February 10th. StockNews.com downgraded Walmart from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. Finally, Guggenheim reissued a “buy” rating and set a $100.00 price objective on shares of Walmart in a report on Monday. One analyst has 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. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $103.07.

Walmart Stock Performance

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

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The retailer reported $0.66 EPS 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 business had revenue of $180.55 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $178.83 billion. Research analysts anticipate that Walmart Inc. will post 2.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Walmart Dividend Announcement

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