Avalon Trust Co Buys New Position in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)

Avalon Trust Co bought a new stake in shares of Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund bought 650 shares of the retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $102,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. grew its stake in Walmart by 24.6% during the fourth quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. now owns 78,345 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $12,351,000 after purchasing an additional 15,448 shares during the period. SeaTown Holdings Pte. Ltd. grew its position in shares of Walmart by 26.6% during the 3rd quarter. SeaTown Holdings Pte. Ltd. now owns 252,600 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $40,398,000 after buying an additional 53,000 shares during the period. Mackenzie Financial Corp increased its stake in shares of Walmart by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 1,480,971 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $235,608,000 after acquiring an additional 21,899 shares in the last quarter. Capital Wealth Planning LLC lifted its position in shares of Walmart by 32.5% during the 3rd quarter. Capital Wealth Planning LLC now owns 2,117,190 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $338,602,000 after acquiring an additional 518,896 shares during the period. Finally, Pittenger & Anderson Inc. boosted its stake in Walmart by 0.7% during the third quarter. Pittenger & Anderson Inc. now owns 48,468 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $7,751,000 after acquiring an additional 325 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 26.76% of the company’s stock.

Walmart Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:WMT traded up $0.11 on Friday, hitting $59.82. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 14,207,397 shares, compared to its average volume of 13,769,110. Walmart Inc. has a 1 year low of $48.34 and a 1 year high of $61.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a current ratio of 0.83 and a quick ratio of 0.24. The company has a market capitalization of $482.03 billion, a PE ratio of 31.26, a PEG ratio of 3.91 and a beta of 0.49. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $60.06 and a 200 day simple moving average of $56.02.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 20th. The retailer reported $0.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.55 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $173.40 billion during 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%. Walmart’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.57 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Walmart Inc. will post 2.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Walmart Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, January 6th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be given a dividend of $0.2075 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $0.83 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.39%. Walmart’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 43.38%.

Insider Activity at Walmart

In other Walmart news, CEO C Douglas Mcmillon sold 29,124 shares of Walmart stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.93, for a total transaction of $1,687,250.40. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 4,076,892 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $236,187,943.20. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, 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 transaction, the director now directly owns 656,397,261 shares in the company, valued at approximately $38,473,631,458.08. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO C Douglas Mcmillon sold 29,124 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.93, for a total value of $1,687,250.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 4,076,892 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $236,187,943.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 29,019,140 shares of company stock valued at $1,696,045,631. Corporate insiders own 46.51% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Tigress Financial upped their price objective on shares of Walmart from $65.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 13th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on Walmart to $66.67 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 26th. Stifel Europe increased their target price on Walmart from $56.33 to $58.33 in a report on Friday, February 16th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price objective on shares of Walmart from $62.00 to $63.33 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 16th. Finally, Evercore ISI reduced their price objective on shares of Walmart from $67.00 to $66.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 16th. Four investment 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. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average 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.