Commerce Bank Cuts Stock Position in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)

Key Points

• Commerce Bank has reduced its stake in Walmart Inc. by 0.6%, now holding over 1 million shares valued at approximately $94.3 million as of the end of the first quarter.
• Walmart's stock recently opened at $97.94, with a market capitalization of $781.63 billion and a PE ratio of 41.86.
• Insider trading saw EVP John R. Furner selling over 13,000 shares, leading to a 1.39% decrease in his position, while Walmart insiders collectively sold around 144,000 shares valued at over $13.8 million last quarter.

Commerce Bank cut its stake in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT - Free Report) by 0.6% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,074,083 shares of the retailer's stock after selling 6,090 shares during the quarter. Commerce Bank's holdings in Walmart were worth $94,294,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Hopwood Financial Services Inc. grew its position in Walmart by 3.7% during the first quarter. Hopwood Financial Services Inc. now owns 3,655 shares of the retailer's stock valued at $321,000 after buying an additional 130 shares during the period. MONECO Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Walmart by 4.1% during the first quarter. MONECO Advisors LLC now owns 17,057 shares of the retailer's stock valued at $1,497,000 after purchasing an additional 675 shares in the last quarter. Alberta Investment Management Corp lifted its holdings in Walmart by 31.5% during the first quarter. Alberta Investment Management Corp now owns 31,300 shares of the retailer's stock valued at $2,748,000 after purchasing an additional 7,500 shares in the last quarter. Howland Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Walmart by 1.8% during the first quarter. Howland Capital Management LLC now owns 357,931 shares of the retailer's stock valued at $31,506,000 after purchasing an additional 6,441 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nicolet Advisory Services LLC lifted its holdings in Walmart by 3.3% during the first quarter. Nicolet Advisory Services LLC now owns 47,583 shares of the retailer's stock valued at $4,311,000 after purchasing an additional 1,511 shares in the last quarter. 26.76% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently commented on WMT shares. Truist Financial boosted their target price on shares of Walmart from $107.00 to $111.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, May 16th. Oppenheimer upped their price target on shares of Walmart from $100.00 to $110.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Walmart from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, May 12th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective 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. Finally, Raymond James Financial cut their price target on shares of Walmart from $115.00 to $105.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 11th. Two 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 company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $106.67.

Insider Activity at Walmart

In other Walmart news, CEO C Douglas Mcmillon sold 19,416 shares of Walmart stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $95.58, for a total transaction of $1,855,781.28. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 4,412,398 shares of the company's stock, valued at $421,737,000.84. The trade was a 0.44% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Kathryn J. Mclay sold 4,000 shares of Walmart stock in a transaction on Monday, July 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $95.14, for a total transaction of $380,560.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 1,056,455 shares in the company, valued at approximately $100,511,128.70. This trade represents a 0.38% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 143,912 shares of company stock worth $13,863,813 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 45.58% of the company's stock.

Walmart Stock Performance

Shares of Walmart stock traded up $0.42 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $98.40. The company had a trading volume of 16,740,547 shares, compared to its average volume of 12,707,151. The stock has a market cap of $785.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.05, a PEG ratio of 4.72 and a beta of 0.66. The company has a quick ratio of 0.22, a current ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $96.86 and a 200 day simple moving average of $95.03. Walmart Inc. has a 12-month low of $66.67 and a 12-month high of $105.30.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 15th. The retailer reported $0.61 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.58 by $0.03. Walmart had a net margin of 2.75% and a return on equity of 21.76%. The company had revenue of $165.61 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $164.53 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.60 EPS. Walmart's revenue for the quarter was up 2.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that Walmart Inc. will post 2.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Walmart Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, May 27th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 12th were paid a dividend of $0.235 per share. This represents a yield of 95.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 9th. Walmart's payout ratio is 40.17%.

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.