OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd Grows Stock Position in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)

OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd boosted its holdings in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) by 36.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 191,184 shares of the retailer’s stock after buying an additional 50,578 shares during the period. OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd’s holdings in Walmart were worth $17,291,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in Walmart in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,306,627,000. Jennison Associates LLC grew its stake in shares of Walmart by 479.6% during the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 18,479,259 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,492,200,000 after buying an additional 15,290,936 shares during the period. FMR LLC grew its stake in shares of Walmart by 12.9% during 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 during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position 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 buying an additional 3,927,173 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position 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 buying an additional 2,786,061 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 26.76% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

WMT has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Tigress Financial upped their price target on Walmart from $86.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. TD Cowen increased their target price on shares of Walmart from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on shares of Walmart from $105.00 to $111.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on shares of Walmart from $109.00 to $107.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Finally, Barclays restated an “overweight” rating on shares of Walmart in a report on Friday, February 28th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Walmart presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $103.20.

Walmart Price Performance

Shares of WMT opened at $85.53 on Wednesday. Walmart Inc. has a 52 week low of $58.56 and a 52 week 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. The firm has a market cap of $687.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.49, a PEG ratio of 4.42 and a beta of 0.53. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $95.56 and a 200-day moving average of $88.93.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 20th. The retailer reported $0.66 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.64 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $180.55 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $178.83 billion. Walmart had a net margin of 2.85% and a return on equity of 21.87%. As a group, analysts forecast that Walmart Inc. will post 2.55 EPS for the current year.

Walmart Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, January 5th. Investors of record on Friday, December 12th will be paid a dividend of $0.235 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 12th. This represents a $0.94 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.10%. Walmart’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 39.00%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Daniel J. Bartlett sold 1,830 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $91.07, for a total transaction of $166,658.10. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 460,705 shares in the company, valued at approximately $41,956,404.35. This represents a 0.40 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO C Douglas Mcmillon sold 29,124 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $96.95, for a total value of $2,823,571.80. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 3,558,247 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $344,972,046.65. This represents a 0.81 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 185,777 shares of company stock valued at $17,657,316 over the last quarter. Insiders own 45.58% of the company’s stock.

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.