Triumph Capital Management Makes New Investment in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)

Triumph Capital Management acquired a new position in shares of Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm acquired 2,160 shares of the retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $342,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in WMT. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Walmart by 15,371.4% during the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 3,511,225 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $553,545,000 after purchasing an additional 3,488,530 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC lifted its stake in shares of Walmart by 46.1% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 4,491,137 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $718,271,000 after purchasing an additional 1,416,359 shares during the last quarter. 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 worth $2,698,519,000 after purchasing an additional 1,317,729 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Walmart by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 137,214,807 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $21,944,764,000 after purchasing an additional 751,713 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its stake in shares of Walmart by 161.6% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,157,620 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $182,499,000 after purchasing an additional 715,125 shares during the last quarter. 26.76% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Walmart news, Director S Robson Walton sold 5,816,175 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.95, for a total transaction of $337,066,728.50. Following the transaction, the director now owns 677,052,654 shares in the company, valued at $39,237,458,141.48. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Walmart news, CEO C Douglas Mcmillon sold 29,124 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.03, for a total transaction of $1,748,313.72. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 4,018,650 shares in the company, valued at $241,239,559.50. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director S Robson Walton sold 5,816,175 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.95, for a total value of $337,066,728.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 677,052,654 shares in the company, valued at approximately $39,237,458,141.48. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 29,016,140 shares of company stock worth $1,695,868,391. 46.51% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on WMT. Stifel Europe upped their price objective on Walmart from $56.33 to $58.33 in a research note on Friday, February 16th. Tigress Financial upped their target price on Walmart from $65.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 13th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their target price on Walmart from $62.00 to $63.33 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 16th. Telsey Advisory Group reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $68.00 target price on shares of Walmart in a research report on Wednesday, March 27th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on Walmart to $66.67 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 26th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-five have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $61.75.

Walmart Stock Down 0.9 %

Walmart stock opened at $58.84 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $474.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.88 and a beta of 0.49. Walmart Inc. has a 52 week low of $48.34 and a 52 week high of $61.65. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $60.01 and its 200 day moving average price is $55.92. The company has a quick ratio of 0.24, a current ratio of 0.83 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 EPS for the quarter, topping 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%. Walmart’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.57 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Walmart Inc. will post 2.36 earnings per share for the current year.

Walmart Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, January 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be given 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 yield of 1.41%. Walmart’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.