Freestone Capital Holdings LLC Has $8.76 Million Stock Position in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)

Freestone Capital Holdings LLC lowered its stake in shares of Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) by 5.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 96,928 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 5,491 shares during the period. Freestone Capital Holdings LLC’s holdings in Walmart were worth $8,757,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in WMT. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Walmart during the fourth quarter valued at about $2,306,627,000. Jennison Associates LLC raised its holdings in shares of Walmart by 479.6% in the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 18,479,259 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,492,200,000 after acquiring an additional 15,290,936 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its holdings in shares of Walmart by 12.9% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 63,135,639 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $5,098,203,000 after acquiring an additional 7,200,004 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its holdings in shares of Walmart by 14.0% in the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 32,020,800 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $2,893,079,000 after acquiring an additional 3,927,173 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Walmart by 3.3% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 87,617,409 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $7,048,465,000 after acquiring an additional 2,786,061 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 26.76% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their target price on shares of Walmart from $109.00 to $107.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 21st. Truist Financial upped their target price on shares of Walmart from $98.00 to $111.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $115.00 target price (up previously from $106.00) on shares of Walmart in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Oppenheimer upped their price objective on shares of Walmart from $100.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on shares of Walmart from $100.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $103.07.

Walmart Stock Up 1.1 %

WMT opened at $96.00 on Thursday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $96.15 and a 200 day moving average of $88.09. The company has a market cap of $771.16 billion, a PE ratio of 39.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.42 and a beta of 0.53. Walmart Inc. has a 12 month low of $58.56 and a 12 month high of $105.30. 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 posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The retailer reported $0.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.64 by $0.02. Walmart had a net margin of 2.85% and a return on equity of 21.87%. The business had revenue of $180.55 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $178.83 billion. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Walmart Inc. will post 2.55 EPS for the current 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 paid a $0.235 dividend. This represents a $0.94 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.98%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 12th. Walmart’s dividend payout ratio is presently 39.00%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP John R. Furner sold 13,125 shares of Walmart stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the executive vice president now owns 460,672 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $44,293,612.80. The trade was a 2.77 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO C Douglas Mcmillon sold 29,124 shares of Walmart stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $92.35, for a total transaction of $2,689,601.40. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,785,702 shares in the company, valued at $349,609,579.70. The trade was a 0.76 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 185,777 shares of company stock worth $17,657,316 in the last three months. 45.58% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Walmart 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.