Alice L. Walton Sells 600 Shares of Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) Stock

Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT – Get Rating) major shareholder Alice L. Walton sold 600 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $150.02, for a total transaction of $90,012.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 245,255,856 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $36,793,283,517.12. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Major shareholders that own 10% or more of a company’s shares are required to disclose their transactions with the SEC.

Walmart Stock Down 0.5 %

WMT opened at $147.63 on Thursday. Walmart Inc. has a twelve month low of $117.90 and a twelve month high of $154.64. The firm has a market cap of $398.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.34 and a beta of 0.48. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $148.56 and a 200 day moving average price of $145.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 0.23 and a current ratio of 0.82.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT – Get Rating) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 18th. The retailer reported $1.47 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.32 by $0.15. Walmart had a return on equity of 21.30% and a net margin of 1.82%. The company had revenue of $152.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $147.91 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.30 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that Walmart Inc. will post 6.21 EPS for the current year.

Walmart Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, January 2nd. Investors of record on Friday, December 8th will be paid a $0.57 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, December 7th. This represents a $2.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.54%. Walmart’s payout ratio is 54.81%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Walmart by 1.4% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 130,176,496 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $16,883,890,000 after acquiring an additional 1,832,388 shares during the period. BlackRock Inc. grew its position in Walmart by 2.9% in the third quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 96,570,711 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $12,525,224,000 after acquiring an additional 2,712,886 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its position in Walmart by 1.2% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 60,659,193 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $7,867,497,000 after acquiring an additional 701,415 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Walmart by 1.0% in the first quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 25,104,994 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $3,691,763,000 after acquiring an additional 249,501 shares during the period. Finally, Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC grew its position in Walmart by 112,181.6% in the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 22,854,919 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $3,240,599,000 after acquiring an additional 22,834,564 shares during the period. 31.27% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have issued reports on WMT. KeyCorp upped their price target on shares of Walmart from $170.00 to $175.00 in a research note on Tuesday, April 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $164.00 target price on shares of Walmart in a research report on Wednesday, February 22nd. 92 Resources restated a “maintains” rating on shares of Walmart in a research report on Monday. Credit Suisse Group set a $170.00 price objective on shares of Walmart and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 22nd. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price objective on shares of Walmart from $164.00 to $169.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 22nd. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-four have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $166.13.

Walmart Company Profile

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Walmart, Inc engages in retail and wholesale business. The company offers an assortment of merchandise and services at everyday low prices. It operates through the following business segments: Walmart U.S., Walmart International, and Sam’s Club. The Walmart U.S. segment operates as a merchandiser of consumer products, operating under the Walmart, Wal-Mart, and Walmart Neighborhood Market brands, as well as walmart.com and other eCommerce brands.