Cannell & Co. Increases Stock Position in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)

Cannell & Co. raised its holdings in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) by 24.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 8,974 shares of the retailer’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,736 shares during the period. Cannell & Co.’s holdings in Walmart were worth $1,415,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Authentikos Wealth Advisory LLC acquired a new position in shares of Walmart in the third quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Kepos Capital LP acquired a new position in shares of Walmart in the third quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Milestone Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Walmart in the third quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Fortitude Family Office LLC acquired a new position in shares of Walmart in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $45,000. Finally, Orion Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Walmart in the third quarter valued at approximately $50,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 26.76% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director S Robson Walton sold 14,685,327 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.61, for a total value of $860,755,966.56. Following the sale, the director now owns 656,397,261 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $38,473,631,458.08. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, Director S Robson Walton sold 14,685,327 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.61, for a total value of $860,755,966.56. Following the sale, the director now owns 656,397,261 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $38,473,631,458.08. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Alice L. Walton sold 5,970,066 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $58.27, for a total transaction of $347,895,646.04. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 671,082,588 shares in the company, valued at approximately $39,106,219,344.72. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 29,016,140 shares of company stock valued at $1,695,868,391 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 46.51% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on WMT. 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. Evercore ISI dropped their price target on shares of Walmart from $67.00 to $66.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. Stifel Nicolaus reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Walmart in a research report on Wednesday, March 13th. Tigress Financial upped their price target on shares of Walmart from $65.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 13th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Walmart from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 21st. Four 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 MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $61.75.

Walmart Price Performance

Shares of WMT stock opened at $58.84 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $474.24 billion, a PE ratio of 30.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.88 and a beta of 0.49. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $60.01 and a 200-day simple moving average of $55.92. 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 Inc. has a twelve month low of $48.34 and a twelve month high of $61.65.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 20th. The retailer reported $0.60 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.55 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $173.40 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $170.85 billion. Walmart had a net margin of 2.39% and a return on equity of 21.08%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.57 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Walmart Inc. will post 2.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Walmart Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, January 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.2075 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $0.83 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.41%. Walmart’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 43.38%.

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.