Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) Shares Sold by Norden Group LLC

Norden Group LLC reduced its stake in shares of Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) by 11.4% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 4,842 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 623 shares during the quarter. Norden Group LLC’s holdings in Walmart were worth $763,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Penobscot Investment Management Company Inc. grew its holdings in Walmart by 25.3% during the 4th quarter. Penobscot Investment Management Company Inc. now owns 14,110 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $2,224,000 after acquiring an additional 2,850 shares in the last quarter. Cozad Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in Walmart by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Cozad Asset Management Inc. now owns 21,709 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $3,422,000 after acquiring an additional 80 shares in the last quarter. Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. grew its holdings in Walmart by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. now owns 15,916 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $2,509,000 after acquiring an additional 140 shares in the last quarter. Field & Main Bank grew its holdings in Walmart by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Field & Main Bank now owns 40,265 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $6,348,000 after acquiring an additional 210 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Walmart by 14.5% in the 4th quarter. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC now owns 126,491 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $19,941,000 after buying an additional 16,048 shares during the period. 26.76% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Walmart Stock Down 1.5 %

Shares of NYSE:WMT opened at $59.32 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.24, a current ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46. Walmart Inc. has a 12 month low of $48.34 and a 12 month high of $61.65. The firm has a market cap of $478.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.00, a P/E/G ratio of 3.93 and a beta of 0.49. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $59.99 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $55.90.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 20th. The retailer reported $0.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.55 by $0.05. Walmart had a net margin of 2.39% and a return on equity of 21.08%. The company had revenue of $173.40 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $170.85 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.57 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that Walmart Inc. will post 2.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Walmart Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, January 6th. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th will be given a $0.2075 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $0.83 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.40%. Walmart’s dividend payout ratio is 43.38%.

Insider Activity at Walmart

In related news, major shareholder Alice L. Walton sold 5,970,066 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.27, for a total value of $347,895,646.04. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 671,082,588 shares in the company, valued at approximately $39,106,219,344.72. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Walmart news, major shareholder Alice L. Walton sold 5,970,066 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.27, for a total transaction of $347,895,646.04. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 671,082,588 shares in the company, valued at approximately $39,106,219,344.72. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director S Robson Walton sold 14,685,327 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $58.61, for a total transaction of $860,755,966.56. Following the sale, the director now owns 656,397,261 shares in the company, valued at $38,473,631,458.08. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 29,019,140 shares of company stock worth $1,696,035,551 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 46.51% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently commented on the stock. Oppenheimer dropped their target price on shares of Walmart to $67.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 26th. Telsey Advisory Group reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $68.00 target price on shares of Walmart in a research report on Wednesday, March 27th. Stifel Europe lifted their target price on shares of Walmart from $56.33 to $58.33 in a research report on Friday, February 16th. Evercore ISI dropped their target price on shares of Walmart from $67.00 to $66.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their target price on shares of Walmart from $62.00 to $63.33 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 16th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-five have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Walmart presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $61.75.

Walmart Company 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.