Provence Wealth Management Group Has $971,000 Stake in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)

Provence Wealth Management Group raised its stake in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) by 15.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 6,161 shares of the retailer’s stock after acquiring an additional 807 shares during the quarter. Provence Wealth Management Group’s holdings in Walmart were worth $971,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Walmart by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 137,214,807 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $21,944,764,000 after buying an additional 751,713 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley raised its stake in shares of Walmart by 1.8% during the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 24,087,268 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $3,852,277,000 after acquiring an additional 426,388 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Walmart by 8.5% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 16,873,127 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $2,698,519,000 after purchasing an additional 1,317,729 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in shares of Walmart by 4.0% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 14,765,278 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $2,361,411,000 after purchasing an additional 562,256 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its holdings in Walmart by 0.6% in the third quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 13,011,647 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $2,081,120,000 after purchasing an additional 78,981 shares during the period. 26.76% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WMT has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on Walmart from $62.00 to $63.33 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 16th. Stifel Europe increased their target price on shares of Walmart from $56.33 to $58.33 in a research report on Friday, February 16th. Tigress Financial boosted their price target on shares of Walmart from $65.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 13th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on shares of Walmart to $66.67 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 26th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Walmart from $54.33 to $58.67 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, February 19th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-five have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Walmart has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $61.75.

Walmart Stock Performance

Shares of WMT traded up $0.11 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $59.82. The stock had a trading volume of 14,207,397 shares, compared to its average volume of 13,769,110. Walmart Inc. has a 52 week low of $48.34 and a 52 week 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 business has a fifty day moving average price of $60.06 and a 200-day moving average price of $55.99. The firm has a market cap of $482.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.26, a PEG ratio of 3.91 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 return on equity of 21.08% and a net margin of 2.39%. The business had revenue of $173.40 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $170.85 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.57 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that Walmart Inc. will post 2.36 EPS for the current year.

Walmart Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced 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. 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 is currently 43.38%.

Insider Transactions at Walmart

In related news, EVP John D. Rainey sold 3,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.08, for a total transaction of $177,240.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 521,613 shares in the company, valued at approximately $30,816,896.04. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Walmart news, EVP John D. Rainey sold 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 521,613 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $30,816,896.04. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO C Douglas Mcmillon sold 29,124 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.03, for a total transaction of $1,748,313.72. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 4,018,650 shares in the company, valued at approximately $241,239,559.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 29,019,140 shares of company stock valued at $1,696,045,631 over the last three months. Company insiders own 46.51% of the company’s stock.

About Walmart

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.