Sapient Capital LLC Buys Shares of 135,863 Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)

Sapient Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund bought 135,863 shares of the retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $21,497,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Authentikos Wealth Advisory LLC bought a new stake in Walmart during the 3rd quarter valued at $25,000. Signature Resources Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Walmart in the fourth quarter worth $35,000. Kepos Capital LP bought a new position in shares of Walmart in the third quarter worth $40,000. Milestone Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Walmart in the third quarter worth $41,000. Finally, Fortitude Family Office LLC bought a new position in shares of Walmart in the fourth quarter worth $45,000. Institutional investors own 26.76% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Walmart

In other Walmart news, Director S Robson Walton sold 14,685,327 shares of Walmart 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 sale, the director now directly owns 656,397,261 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $38,473,631,458.08. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Walmart news, Director S Robson Walton sold 14,685,327 shares of Walmart 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 sale, the director now directly owns 656,397,261 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $38,473,631,458.08. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, 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 owns 4,076,892 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $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. 46.51% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WMT has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on shares of Walmart to $66.67 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 26th. Stifel Europe upped their price target on shares of Walmart from $56.33 to $58.33 in a report on Friday, February 16th. Telsey Advisory Group reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $68.00 price target on shares of Walmart in a report on Wednesday, March 27th. StockNews.com raised shares of Walmart from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 21st. Finally, Evercore ISI cut their target price on shares of Walmart from $67.00 to $66.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. Four equities research 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’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Walmart has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $61.75.

Walmart Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE WMT traded up $0.11 during trading hours 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. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a quick ratio of 0.24 and a current ratio of 0.83. The stock has a market cap of $482.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.26, a P/E/G ratio of 3.91 and a beta of 0.49. Walmart Inc. has a 12 month low of $48.34 and a 12 month high of $61.65. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $60.06 and a 200-day simple moving average of $55.99.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 20th. The retailer reported $0.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.55 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $173.40 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $170.85 billion. Walmart had a return on equity of 21.08% and a net margin of 2.39%. Walmart’s quarterly revenue was up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.57 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Walmart Inc. will post 2.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $0.83 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.39%. Walmart’s payout ratio is 43.38%.

Walmart 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.