Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) Shares Sold by TCI Wealth Advisors Inc.

TCI Wealth Advisors Inc. lowered its position in shares of Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) by 14.3% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 5,893 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 985 shares during the quarter. TCI Wealth Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Walmart were worth $929,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 751,713 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley lifted its stake in Walmart by 1.8% during 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 in the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its stake in 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 in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in shares of Walmart by 4.0% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 14,765,278 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $2,361,411,000 after buying an additional 562,256 shares during the period. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 78,981 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 26.76% of the company’s stock.

Walmart Stock Performance

Shares of WMT stock traded up $0.11 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $59.82. 14,207,397 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 13,769,110. Walmart Inc. has a 12-month low of $48.34 and a 12-month high of $61.65. 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 capitalization 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. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $60.06 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $56.02.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 20th. The retailer reported $0.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 firm had revenue of $173.40 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $170.85 billion. During the same quarter last 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, analysts forecast that Walmart Inc. will post 2.36 EPS for the current year.

Walmart Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, January 6th. Investors 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 1.39%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. Walmart’s dividend payout ratio is currently 43.38%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently commented on WMT. Oppenheimer lowered their target price on Walmart to $67.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 26th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price objective on shares of Walmart from $62.00 to $63.33 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 16th. Tigress Financial upped their target price on shares of Walmart from $65.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 13th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on shares of Walmart to $66.67 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 26th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Walmart from $54.33 to $58.67 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, February 19th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-five have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $61.75.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO C Douglas Mcmillon sold 29,124 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 4,076,892 shares in the company, valued at approximately $236,187,943.20. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Walmart news, Director S Robson Walton sold 5,816,175 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.95, for a total transaction of $337,066,728.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 677,052,654 shares in the company, valued at approximately $39,237,458,141.48. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 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 transaction of $1,687,250.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now 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. In the last three months, insiders have sold 29,019,140 shares of company stock valued at $1,696,045,631. Insiders own 46.51% of the company’s stock.

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.