Walmart (NYSE:WMT) Trading Down 1.5%

Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)’s stock price fell 1.5% on Tuesday . The stock traded as low as $59.06 and last traded at $59.23. 3,617,342 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 81% from the average session volume of 18,773,672 shares. The stock had previously closed at $60.14.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have weighed in on WMT. 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. Stifel Nicolaus reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Walmart in a report 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Walmart from $54.33 to $58.67 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, February 19th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price objective on shares of Walmart from $62.00 to $63.33 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 16th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-five have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Walmart presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $61.75.

Walmart Price Performance

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 stock’s fifty day moving average price is $59.76 and its 200-day moving average price is $55.67. The firm has a market cap of $482.44 billion, a PE ratio of 31.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.86 and a beta of 0.49.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 firm had revenue of $173.40 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $170.85 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.57 earnings per share. Walmart’s quarterly revenue was up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that Walmart Inc. will post 2.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Walmart Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, January 6th. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th will be issued a $0.2075 dividend. This represents a $0.83 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.39%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. Walmart’s dividend payout ratio is currently 43.38%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Walmart news, EVP John D. Rainey sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.72, for a total transaction of $167,160.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 530,613 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $29,565,756.36. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other Walmart news, CEO C Douglas Mcmillon sold 29,124 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 4,076,892 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $236,187,943.20. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP John D. Rainey sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.72, for a total transaction of $167,160.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 530,613 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $29,565,756.36. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 28,990,016 shares of company stock valued at $1,694,287,237 over the last 90 days. 46.51% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. SeaTown Holdings Pte. Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Walmart by 26.6% during the third quarter. SeaTown Holdings Pte. Ltd. now owns 252,600 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $40,398,000 after purchasing an additional 53,000 shares in the last quarter. Railway Pension Investments Ltd lifted its position in shares of Walmart by 28.0% during the third quarter. Railway Pension Investments Ltd now owns 767,013 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $122,668,000 after purchasing an additional 167,800 shares in the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp lifted its position in shares of Walmart by 1.5% during the third quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 1,480,971 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $235,608,000 after purchasing an additional 21,899 shares in the last quarter. Fiduciary Alliance LLC lifted its position in shares of Walmart by 34.8% during the third quarter. Fiduciary Alliance LLC now owns 4,630 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $740,000 after purchasing an additional 1,196 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital Wealth Planning LLC lifted its position in shares of Walmart by 32.5% during the third quarter. Capital Wealth Planning LLC now owns 2,117,190 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $338,602,000 after purchasing an additional 518,896 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 26.76% 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.