Bridgewater Associates LP Has $70.43 Million Stock Position in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)

Bridgewater Associates LP cut its stake in shares of Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) by 72.6% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 779,487 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 2,064,838 shares during the quarter. Bridgewater Associates LP’s holdings in Walmart were worth $70,427,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Kane Investment Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Walmart in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $462,000. Rench Wealth Management Inc. increased its stake in Walmart by 10.1% in the fourth quarter. Rench Wealth Management Inc. now owns 3,292 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $297,000 after purchasing an additional 303 shares in the last quarter. M Holdings Securities Inc. acquired a new stake in Walmart in the fourth quarter worth $3,684,000. AGP Franklin LLC bought a new position in shares of Walmart during the fourth quarter worth $1,872,000. Finally, Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board grew its holdings in shares of Walmart by 205.1% in the 4th quarter. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board now owns 14,693 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,328,000 after buying an additional 9,877 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 26.76% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Walmart

In other news, EVP Kathryn J. Mclay sold 4,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.95, for a total value of $343,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 888,309 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $76,350,158.55. The trade was a 0.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Daniel J. Bartlett sold 1,600 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $103.99, for a total transaction of $166,384.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 423,597 shares in the company, valued at approximately $44,049,852.03. This represents a 0.38 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 178,852 shares of company stock worth $16,785,080 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 45.58% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently commented on WMT. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on Walmart from $93.00 to $118.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. DZ Bank upgraded Walmart from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $110.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Walmart in a research note on Wednesday, March 26th. Erste Group Bank lowered shares of Walmart from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Walmart from $100.00 to $108.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $103.58.

Walmart Stock Performance

WMT opened at $94.91 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.23, a current ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40. The stock has a market cap of $760.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.38, a PEG ratio of 4.42 and a beta of 0.69. Walmart Inc. has a 12-month low of $58.56 and a 12-month high of $105.30. The business has a 50 day moving average of $92.27 and a 200-day moving average of $90.06.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 20th. The retailer reported $0.66 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.64 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $180.55 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $178.83 billion. Walmart had a net margin of 2.85% and a return on equity of 21.87%. On average, equities research analysts expect that Walmart Inc. will post 2.55 earnings per share for the current year.

Walmart Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, January 5th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 12th will be given a dividend of $0.235 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 12th. This represents a $0.94 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.99%. Walmart’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 39.00%.

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.