Van ECK Associates Corp Has $13.35 Million Stock Holdings in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)

Van ECK Associates Corp decreased its holdings in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) by 5.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 84,667 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 5,276 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp’s holdings in Walmart were worth $13,348,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Authentikos Wealth Advisory LLC bought a new position in shares of Walmart in the third quarter worth about $25,000. Kepos Capital LP acquired a new position in Walmart during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $40,000. Milestone Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in Walmart in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Fortitude Family Office LLC bought a new position in Walmart in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $45,000. Finally, Orion Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Walmart in the third quarter valued at approximately $50,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 26.76% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WMT has been the subject of a number of research reports. Tigress Financial increased their price target on Walmart from $65.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 13th. Stifel Nicolaus reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Walmart in a research note on Wednesday, March 13th. Evercore ISI reduced their price target on Walmart from $67.00 to $66.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 16th. Oppenheimer dropped their price objective on shares of Walmart to $67.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 26th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Walmart from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 21st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-five have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $61.75.

Walmart Trading Down 0.9 %

Shares of Walmart stock opened at $58.84 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $474.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.88 and a beta of 0.49. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $60.01 and a 200 day simple moving average of $55.92. Walmart Inc. has a 12-month low of $48.34 and a 12-month high of $61.65. 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) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 20th. The retailer reported $0.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.55 by $0.05. Walmart had a net margin of 2.39% and a return on equity of 21.08%. The firm had revenue of $173.40 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $170.85 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.57 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Walmart Inc. will post 2.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Walmart Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, January 6th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be paid 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 1.41%. Walmart’s payout ratio is presently 43.38%.

Insider Activity

In related news, major shareholder Alice L. Walton sold 345,000 shares of Walmart stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.93, for a total transaction of $21,020,850.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 652,044,261 shares in the company, valued at $39,729,056,822.73. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, major shareholder Alice L. Walton sold 5,970,066 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were 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 owns 671,082,588 shares in the company, valued at approximately $39,106,219,344.72. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Alice L. Walton sold 345,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.93, for a total value of $21,020,850.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 652,044,261 shares in the company, valued at approximately $39,729,056,822.73. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 29,016,140 shares of company stock valued at $1,695,868,391 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 46.51% of the company’s stock.

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.