Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) EVP Sells $1,261,968.75 in Stock

Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) EVP John R. Furner sold 13,125 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $96.15, for a total transaction of $1,261,968.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 460,672 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $44,293,612.80. This represents a 2.77 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website.

Walmart Stock Up 1.9 %

WMT stock opened at $98.65 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $95.90 and its 200 day moving average price is $87.71. Walmart Inc. has a 52 week low of $58.20 and a 52 week high of $105.30. The company has a market cap of $792.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.94, a P/E/G ratio of 4.42 and a beta of 0.55.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The retailer reported $0.66 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.64 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $180.55 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $178.83 billion. Walmart had a return on equity of 21.87% and a net margin of 2.85%. On average, research analysts expect that Walmart Inc. will post 2.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Walmart Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, January 5th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 12th will be issued a $0.235 dividend. This represents a $0.94 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.95%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 12th. Walmart’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 39.00%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the company. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on Walmart from $89.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Roth Mkm reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $108.00 price objective (up from $97.00) on shares of Walmart in a report on Friday, February 21st. Guggenheim restated a “buy” rating and set a $100.00 target price on shares of Walmart in a research report on Monday, February 24th. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price target on shares of Walmart from $98.00 to $102.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. Finally, Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of Walmart from $95.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $103.07.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position 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 acquiring an additional 2,050,683 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Walmart by 3.4% during the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Walmart during the 4th quarter worth approximately $5,737,355,000. FMR LLC lifted its stake in Walmart by 12.9% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 63,135,639 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $5,098,203,000 after buying an additional 7,200,004 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in Walmart by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 48,793,045 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $4,408,452,000 after buying an additional 1,133,201 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 26.76% 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.