RMR Wealth Builders Grows Stake in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)

RMR Wealth Builders grew its holdings in shares of Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) by 20.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,711 shares of the retailer’s stock after purchasing an additional 960 shares during the period. RMR Wealth Builders’ holdings in Walmart were worth $900,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Walmart by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 137,214,807 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $21,944,764,000 after acquiring an additional 751,713 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley raised its stake in shares of Walmart by 1.8% in the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 24,087,268 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $3,852,277,000 after purchasing 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 boosted its position in Walmart by 4.0% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 14,765,278 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $2,361,411,000 after buying an additional 562,256 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its holdings in Walmart by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 13,011,647 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $2,081,120,000 after buying an additional 78,981 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 26.76% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have commented on the stock. Evercore ISI decreased their price objective on shares of Walmart from $67.00 to $66.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. Tigress Financial upped their price target on shares of Walmart from $65.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 13th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Walmart from $63.00 to $69.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. StockNews.com upgraded Walmart from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 21st. Finally, Oppenheimer reduced their price target on Walmart to $67.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 26th. Four investment 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’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Walmart currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $61.94.

Walmart Price Performance

Walmart stock opened at $60.08 on Thursday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $60.08 and a 200-day simple moving average of $56.12. The firm has a market capitalization of $484.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.52, a PEG ratio of 3.91 and a beta of 0.49. The company has a quick ratio of 0.24, a current ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46. Walmart Inc. has a 52-week low of $48.34 and a 52-week high of $61.65.

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 the consensus estimate of $0.55 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $173.40 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $170.85 billion. Walmart had a net margin of 2.39% and a return on equity of 21.08%. Walmart’s revenue was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.57 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Walmart Inc. will post 2.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Walmart Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, January 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be paid a dividend of $0.2075 per share. This represents a $0.83 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.38%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. Walmart’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 43.38%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Walmart

In other news, CEO C Douglas Mcmillon sold 29,124 shares of Walmart stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at approximately $236,187,943.20. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, Director S Robson Walton sold 5,816,175 shares of the company’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 transaction, the director now directly owns 677,052,654 shares in the company, valued at $39,237,458,141.48. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO C Douglas Mcmillon sold 29,124 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.93, for a total value of $1,687,250.40. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly 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. Insiders sold a total of 29,019,140 shares of company stock worth $1,696,045,631 in the last three months. 46.51% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.