Retirement Systems of Alabama Sells 134,403 Shares of Walmart Inc. $WMT

Retirement Systems of Alabama cut its holdings in Walmart Inc. (NASDAQ:WMT) by 7.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,757,950 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 134,403 shares during the period. Walmart makes up approximately 0.6% of Retirement Systems of Alabama’s portfolio, making the stock its 22nd biggest position. Retirement Systems of Alabama’s holdings in Walmart were worth $195,853,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Walmart by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 435,652,710 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $44,898,368,000 after buying an additional 3,835,200 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its holdings in Walmart by 1.2% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 184,805,978 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $19,046,104,000 after purchasing an additional 2,242,364 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Walmart by 1.6% in the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 40,298,623 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $4,153,176,000 after purchasing an additional 634,211 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Walmart by 3.6% during the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 31,973,329 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $3,126,775,000 after purchasing an additional 1,098,342 shares during the period. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc raised its holdings in shares of Walmart by 3.5% during the third quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 27,268,463 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $2,810,288,000 after purchasing an additional 934,468 shares during the period. 26.76% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently commented on WMT. HSBC lowered Walmart from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $122.00 to $131.00 in a research report on Friday, February 20th. Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $150.00 price objective on Walmart in a research note on Tuesday, February 17th. DA Davidson set a $150.00 price objective on Walmart and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 20th. Tigress Financial set a $150.00 target price on Walmart and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 25th. Finally, Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $140.00 target price (up from $125.00) on shares of Walmart in a report on Monday, February 9th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty have given a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $135.76.

Walmart Stock Performance

Shares of WMT opened at $124.25 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $990.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 45.35, a P/E/G ratio of 4.60 and a beta of 0.66. Walmart Inc. has a 52 week low of $79.81 and a 52 week high of $134.69. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $124.54 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $113.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a quick ratio of 0.24 and a current ratio of 0.79.

Walmart (NASDAQ:WMT) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 19th. The retailer reported $0.74 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.73 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $190.66 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $188.37 billion. Walmart had a return on equity of 21.44% and a net margin of 3.07%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.66 earnings per share. Walmart has set its FY 2027 guidance at 2.750-2.850 EPS and its Q1 2027 guidance at 0.610-0.610 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Walmart Inc. will post 2.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Walmart Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, January 4th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 11th will be given a dividend of $0.2475 per share. This represents a $0.99 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 11th. Walmart’s payout ratio is 36.13%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP John D. Rainey sold 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $122.27, for a total value of $2,445,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 506,764 shares in the company, valued at $61,962,034.28. The trade was a 3.80% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Christopher James Nicholas sold 34,082 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $122.00, for a total transaction of $4,158,004.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 533,466 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $65,082,852. This represents a 6.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last three months, insiders sold 274,278 shares of company stock worth $33,825,793. 0.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Walmart Company Profile

Walmart is a multinational retail corporation that operates a broad portfolio of store formats and digital services. Its core business includes large-format supercenters, discount department stores, neighborhood grocery stores and a membership warehouse chain, Sam’s Club. The company’s merchandising mix covers groceries, household goods, apparel, electronics and pharmacy services, supplemented by private-label products and category-specific offerings. Walmart pairs its physical store network with online platforms and mobile applications to provide omnichannel shopping, fulfillment and delivery options for consumers and businesses.

The company was founded by Sam Walton, who opened the first store in Rogers, Arkansas in 1962; it is headquartered in Bentonville, Arkansas.