NYSE:WMT - Free Report ) by 87.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 73,082 shares of the retailer's stock after buying an additional 34,173 shares during the quarter. Townsend & Associates Inc's holdings in Walmart were worth $11,730,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.
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A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in WMT. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Walmart by 0.6% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 137,214,807 shares of the retailer's stock valued at $21,944,764,000 after purchasing an additional 751,713 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley raised its position in shares of Walmart by 1.8% during the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 24,087,268 shares of the retailer's stock valued at $3,852,277,000 after purchasing an additional 426,388 shares during the period. FMR LLC lifted its stake in shares of Walmart by 8.5% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 16,873,127 shares of the retailer's stock valued at $2,698,519,000 after buying an additional 1,317,729 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in Walmart by 4.0% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 14,765,278 shares of the retailer's stock worth $2,361,411,000 after buying an additional 562,256 shares during the period. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its stake in Walmart by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 13,011,647 shares of the retailer's stock worth $2,081,120,000 after buying an additional 78,981 shares in the last quarter. 26.76% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.
Wall Street Analyst Weigh In Several equities analysts have recently commented on the company. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Walmart from $63.00 to $69.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on Walmart to $66.67 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 26th. Oppenheimer reduced their price objective on shares of Walmart to $67.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 26th. Telsey Advisory Group restated an "outperform" rating and set a $68.00 target price on shares of Walmart in a research report on Wednesday, March 27th. Finally, Evercore ISI cut their target price on shares of Walmart from $67.00 to $66.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-five have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $61.94.
Check Out Our Latest Analysis on WMT
Walmart Trading Up 0.2 % Shares of WMT stock traded up $0.15 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $60.45. 14,549,570 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 18,339,270. The firm has a market capitalization of $487.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.91 and a beta of 0.49. Walmart Inc. has a 12-month low of $48.34 and a 12-month high of $61.65. The company's 50-day moving average price is $60.10 and its 200-day moving average price is $56.15. The company has a current ratio of 0.83, a quick ratio of 0.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46.
Walmart (NYSE:WMT - Get Free Report ) last announced its 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. Walmart had a return on equity of 21.08% and a net margin of 2.39%. The business had revenue of $173.40 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $170.85 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.57 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Walmart Inc. will post 2.36 earnings per share for the current year.
Walmart Dividend Announcement The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, January 6th. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.2075 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $0.83 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.37%. Walmart's payout ratio is 43.38%.
Insider Buying and Selling at Walmart In other news, Director S Robson Walton sold 14,685,327 shares of Walmart stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.61, for a total transaction of $860,755,966.56. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 656,397,261 shares of the company's stock, valued at $38,473,631,458.08. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink . In other news, SVP David Chojnowski sold 10,950 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $58.33, for a total transaction of $638,750.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 104,346 shares in the company, valued at $6,086,850. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link . Also, Director S Robson Walton sold 14,685,327 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $58.61, for a total transaction of $860,755,966.56. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 656,397,261 shares of the company's stock, valued at $38,473,631,458.08. The disclosure for this sale can be found here . Insiders sold a total of 29,019,140 shares of company stock valued at $1,696,045,631 in the last three months. Company insiders own 46.51% of the company's stock.
About Walmart (
Free Report )
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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