John D. Rainey Sells 3,000 Shares of Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) Stock

Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT - Get Free Report) EVP John D. Rainey sold 3,000 shares of Walmart stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.08, for a total transaction of $177,240.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 521,613 shares in the company, valued at $30,816,896.04. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website.

Walmart Stock Performance

NYSE WMT traded up $0.11 during trading on Friday, hitting $59.82. The company's stock had a trading volume of 13,538,555 shares, compared to its average volume of 18,602,846. Walmart Inc. has a 52 week low of $48.34 and a 52 week high of $61.65. The company has a quick ratio of 0.24, a current ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46. The firm has a market cap of $482.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.84 and a beta of 0.49. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $60.03 and a 200 day moving average price of $55.95.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 20th. The retailer reported $0.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.55 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $173.40 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $170.85 billion. Walmart had a return on equity of 21.08% and a net margin of 2.39%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.57 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Walmart Inc. will post 2.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Walmart Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, January 6th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be issued a $0.2075 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $0.83 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.39%. Walmart's payout ratio is presently 43.38%.

Institutional Trading of Walmart

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Walmart during the 4th quarter valued at $3,674,652,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its stake in shares of Walmart by 183.0% in the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 29,172,985 shares of the retailer's stock worth $1,755,339,000 after acquiring an additional 18,865,484 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates boosted its position in Walmart by 212.6% in the 1st quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 14,035,473 shares of the retailer's stock valued at $844,514,000 after buying an additional 9,544,958 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. increased its stake in shares of Walmart by 184.1% in the 1st quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 12,567,533 shares of the retailer's stock valued at $756,188,000 after buying an additional 8,144,393 shares during the period. Finally, Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of Walmart by 199.3% during the first quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 7,639,240 shares of the retailer's stock worth $459,653,000 after acquiring an additional 5,087,119 shares during the last quarter. 26.76% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have issued reports on WMT shares. Oppenheimer cut their price objective on Walmart to $67.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Walmart from $54.33 to $58.67 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, February 19th. Stifel Europe boosted their price objective on shares of Walmart from $56.33 to $58.33 in a research note on Friday, February 16th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their target price on shares of Walmart from $62.00 to $63.33 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, February 16th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Walmart from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 21st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-five have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Walmart has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $61.75.

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.

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