Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. Cuts Holdings in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)

Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lessened its stake in shares of Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) by 1.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 10,523,758 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 180,728 shares during the quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. owned approximately 0.39% of Walmart worth $1,647,070,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Seven Mile Advisory increased its stake in Walmart by 1.6% during the third quarter. Seven Mile Advisory now owns 3,953 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $632,000 after purchasing an additional 61 shares during the period. Flynn Zito Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Walmart by 3.9% during the 4th quarter. Flynn Zito Capital Management LLC now owns 1,636 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $258,000 after buying an additional 61 shares during the period. ICW Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Walmart by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. ICW Investment Advisors LLC now owns 15,451 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $2,436,000 after buying an additional 62 shares in the last quarter. Bill Few Associates Inc. boosted its position in Walmart by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Bill Few Associates Inc. now owns 5,806 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $915,000 after buying an additional 64 shares during the period. Finally, Gateway Advisory LLC grew its position in shares of Walmart by 4.1% during the third quarter. Gateway Advisory LLC now owns 1,643 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $263,000 after buying an additional 65 shares in the last quarter. 26.76% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have commented on WMT. Stifel Nicolaus reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Walmart in a research report on Wednesday, March 13th. Tigress Financial lifted their price target on Walmart from $65.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 13th. UBS Group increased their price objective on Walmart from $63.00 to $69.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on shares of Walmart from $62.00 to $63.33 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 16th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Walmart from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 21st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-five have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Walmart presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $61.94.

Walmart Trading Down 0.1 %

WMT stock traded down $0.07 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $60.55. 5,599,468 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 18,321,520. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $60.08 and its 200-day moving average price is $56.12. The firm has a market capitalization of $487.91 billion, a PE ratio of 31.66, a P/E/G ratio of 3.91 and a beta of 0.49. 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 Inc. has a 52-week low of $48.34 and a 52-week high of $61.65.

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

Walmart Dividend Announcement

The company 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 1.37%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. Walmart’s payout ratio is 43.38%.

Insider Activity

In other Walmart news, EVP John D. Rainey sold 3,000 shares of Walmart stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.08, for a total value of $177,240.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 521,613 shares in the company, valued at $30,816,896.04. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Walmart news, Director S Robson Walton sold 5,816,175 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.95, for a total value of $337,066,728.50. Following the sale, the director now owns 677,052,654 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $39,237,458,141.48. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP John D. Rainey sold 3,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.08, for a total transaction of $177,240.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 521,613 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $30,816,896.04. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 29,019,140 shares of company stock worth $1,696,045,631 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 46.51% of the company’s stock.

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.