Walmart (NYSE:WMT) Shares Down 0.2%

Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)’s share price was down 0.2% on Thursday . The company traded as low as $60.37 and last traded at $60.59. Approximately 2,284,721 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 89% from the average daily volume of 20,198,746 shares. The stock had previously closed at $60.72.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Walmart from $54.33 to $58.67 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, February 19th. Stifel Nicolaus reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Walmart in a research report on Wednesday, March 13th. Tigress Financial upped their price target on shares of Walmart from $65.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 13th. StockNews.com raised shares of Walmart from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 21st. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on shares of Walmart to $66.67 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 26th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $61.60.

Walmart Stock Down 0.9 %

The firm has a market cap of $484.85 billion, a PE ratio of 31.55, a PEG ratio of 3.95 and a beta of 0.49. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $58.02 and its 200 day moving average price is $54.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a current ratio of 0.83 and a quick ratio of 0.24.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 20th. The retailer reported $0.60 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.55 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $173.40 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $170.85 billion. Walmart had a net margin of 2.39% and a return on equity of 21.08%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.57 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Walmart Inc. will post 2.36 earnings per share for the current year.

Walmart Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, January 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be given a dividend of $0.2075 per share. This represents a $0.83 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.38%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. Walmart’s payout ratio is currently 43.38%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Walmart news, CEO C Douglas Mcmillon sold 29,124 shares of Walmart stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.54, for a total transaction of $1,559,298.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 4,274,475 shares in the company, valued at $228,855,391.50. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, CEO C Douglas Mcmillon sold 29,124 shares of Walmart stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.54, for a total value of $1,559,298.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 4,274,475 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $228,855,391.50. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, major shareholder Alice L. Walton sold 7,218,243 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $52.57, for a total transaction of $379,487,095.32. Following the sale, the insider now owns 682,868,829 shares in the company, valued at $35,900,690,569.96. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 36,208,259 shares of company stock valued at $2,073,465,662. Insiders own 46.51% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Walmart by 0.6% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 137,214,807 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $21,944,764,000 after purchasing an additional 751,713 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley lifted its position in Walmart by 1.8% during the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 24,087,268 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $3,852,277,000 after buying an additional 426,388 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Walmart in the 4th quarter valued at about $3,674,652,000. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Walmart by 112,181.6% in the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 22,854,919 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $3,240,599,000 after purchasing an additional 22,834,564 shares during the period. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its stake in Walmart by 11.9% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 20,235,920 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $3,190,194,000 after buying an additional 2,150,351 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 26.76% of the company’s stock.

Walmart Company Profile

Walmart Inc engages in the operation of retail, wholesale, and other units 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, walmart.com.mx, walmart.ca, flipkart.com, and samsclub.com; and mobile commerce applications.