Vance Wealth LLC Trims Position in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)

Vance Wealth LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) by 15.0% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 4,048 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 714 shares during the quarter. Vance Wealth LLC’s holdings in Walmart were worth $366,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Walmart by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 422,736,888 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $38,194,278,000 after purchasing an additional 2,050,683 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Walmart by 3.4% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 90,635,238 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $8,167,186,000 after purchasing an additional 3,017,829 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Walmart in the 4th quarter worth $5,737,355,000. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of Walmart by 2.4% in the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 48,793,045 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $4,408,452,000 after buying an additional 1,133,201 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its position in shares of Walmart by 8.9% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 43,641,936 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $3,943,049,000 after buying an additional 3,550,037 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 26.76% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Daniel J. Bartlett sold 1,760 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $94.82, for a total value of $166,883.20. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 520,275 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $49,332,475.50. This trade represents a 0.34% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO C Douglas Mcmillon sold 29,124 shares of Walmart stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $96.95, for a total transaction of $2,823,571.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,558,247 shares in the company, valued at approximately $344,972,046.65. This represents a 0.81% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 134,035 shares of company stock worth $12,445,082. Corporate insiders own 45.58% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WMT has been the topic of a number of research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Walmart from $97.00 to $112.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, February 10th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Walmart from $100.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Barclays reissued an “overweight” rating on shares of Walmart in a research report on Friday, February 28th. UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of Walmart from $112.00 to $110.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $115.00 price objective (up previously from $106.00) on shares of Walmart in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-one have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $104.94.

Walmart Price Performance

Shares of NYSE WMT opened at $98.10 on Tuesday. Walmart Inc. has a twelve month low of $63.87 and a twelve month high of $105.30. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $91.45 and a two-hundred day moving average of $92.66. The company has a market capitalization of $784.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.71, a PEG ratio of 4.42 and a beta of 0.70. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 15th. The retailer reported $0.61 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.58 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $165.61 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $164.53 billion. Walmart had a return on equity of 21.87% and a net margin of 2.85%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.60 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Walmart Inc. will post 2.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Walmart Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 27th. Investors of record on Monday, May 12th will be issued a dividend of $0.235 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 9th. This represents a dividend yield of 0.95%. Walmart’s dividend payout ratio is 40.17%.

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.