South Dakota Investment Council Has $7.84 Million Stock Holdings in Walmart Inc. $WMT

South Dakota Investment Council decreased its position in shares of Walmart Inc. (NASDAQ:WMT) by 18.2% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 76,065 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 16,931 shares during the quarter. South Dakota Investment Council’s holdings in Walmart were worth $7,839,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Fox Run Management L.L.C. bought a new stake in Walmart in the third quarter valued at $1,709,000. CWM LLC raised its stake in shares of Walmart by 24.2% in the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,175,703 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $121,168,000 after purchasing an additional 229,220 shares during the last quarter. Neuberger Berman Group LLC lifted its stake in Walmart by 0.8% during the 2nd quarter. Neuberger Berman Group LLC now owns 5,091,126 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $497,771,000 after acquiring an additional 42,645 shares in the last quarter. Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Walmart by 16.6% during the third quarter. Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. now owns 63,782 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $6,567,000 after purchasing an additional 9,061 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Aviva PLC boosted its stake in shares of Walmart by 16.4% in the 2nd quarter. Aviva PLC now owns 3,833,720 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $374,861,000 after buying an additional 539,504 shares during the last quarter. 26.76% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WMT has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Tigress Financial set a $150.00 price target on shares of Walmart and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 25th. Citigroup reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $147.00 price target (up from $120.00) on shares of Walmart in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Truist Financial increased their price objective on Walmart from $127.00 to $139.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 20th. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on Walmart from $110.00 to $121.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 21st. Finally, Evercore reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $130.00 price target (up from $125.00) on shares of Walmart in a report on Tuesday, February 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-one have given a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $134.42.

Insider Activity at Walmart

In other news, EVP Donna Morris sold 76,181 shares of Walmart stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $123.79, for a total transaction of $9,430,445.99. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 402,072 shares in the company, valued at approximately $49,772,492.88. This trade represents a 15.93% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP John D. Rainey sold 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $122.27, for a total transaction of $2,445,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 506,764 shares in the company, valued at approximately $61,962,034.28. The trade was a 3.80% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 259,703 shares of company stock worth $31,585,043 over the last 90 days. 0.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Walmart Stock Performance

Shares of WMT stock opened at $127.91 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $1.02 trillion, a P/E ratio of 46.68, a PEG ratio of 4.73 and a beta of 0.66. Walmart Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $79.81 and a fifty-two week high of $134.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a quick ratio of 0.24 and a current ratio of 0.79. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $121.07 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $110.56.

Walmart (NASDAQ:WMT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 19th. The retailer reported $0.74 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.73 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $190.66 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $188.37 billion. Walmart had a net margin of 3.07% and a return on equity of 21.44%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 5.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.66 earnings per share. Walmart has set its FY 2027 guidance at 2.750-2.850 EPS and its Q1 2027 guidance at 0.610-0.610 EPS. Analysts expect that Walmart Inc. will post 2.55 earnings per share for the current year.

Walmart Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, January 4th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 11th will be issued a $0.2475 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 11th. This represents a $0.99 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.8%. Walmart’s dividend payout ratio is 34.31%.

About Walmart

Walmart is a multinational retail corporation that operates a broad portfolio of store formats and digital services. Its core business includes large-format supercenters, discount department stores, neighborhood grocery stores and a membership warehouse chain, Sam’s Club. The company’s merchandising mix covers groceries, household goods, apparel, electronics and pharmacy services, supplemented by private-label products and category-specific offerings. Walmart pairs its physical store network with online platforms and mobile applications to provide omnichannel shopping, fulfillment and delivery options for consumers and businesses.

The company was founded by Sam Walton, who opened the first store in Rogers, Arkansas in 1962; it is headquartered in Bentonville, Arkansas.