Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) Shares Acquired by V Square Quantitative Management LLC

V Square Quantitative Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) by 200.0% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,921 shares of the retailer’s stock after buying an additional 2,614 shares during the quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC’s holdings in Walmart were worth $236,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Seven Mile Advisory grew its position in shares of Walmart by 1.6% in the third quarter. Seven Mile Advisory now owns 3,953 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $632,000 after purchasing an additional 61 shares during the last quarter. Flynn Zito Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Walmart by 3.9% during the fourth quarter. Flynn Zito Capital Management LLC now owns 1,636 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $258,000 after buying an additional 61 shares during the last quarter. ICW Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Walmart by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. ICW Investment Advisors LLC now owns 15,451 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $2,436,000 after acquiring an additional 62 shares during the period. Bill Few Associates Inc. grew its stake in shares of Walmart by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Bill Few Associates Inc. now owns 5,806 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $915,000 after acquiring an additional 64 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Gateway Advisory LLC increased its position in Walmart by 4.1% during the third quarter. Gateway Advisory LLC now owns 1,643 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $263,000 after acquiring an additional 65 shares during the period. 26.76% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, major shareholder Jim C. Walton sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.78, for a total transaction of $117,560.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 656,395,261 shares in the company, valued at $38,582,913,441.58. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, Director S Robson Walton sold 3,540,250 shares of Walmart stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.55, for a total value of $228,523,137.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 648,504,011 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $41,860,933,910.05. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Jim C. Walton sold 2,000 shares of Walmart stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.78, for a total transaction of $117,560.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 656,395,261 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $38,582,913,441.58. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 32,559,390 shares of company stock worth $1,924,568,769 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 46.51% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have issued reports on WMT shares. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Walmart from $63.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 7th. TD Cowen lifted their target price on Walmart from $68.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Truist Financial upped their price target on Walmart from $60.00 to $64.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday. Barclays lifted their price objective on Walmart from $60.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday. Finally, Evercore ISI upped their target price on Walmart from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Walmart has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $68.01.

Walmart Trading Up 1.5 %

Shares of WMT traded up $0.97 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $65.15. The stock had a trading volume of 16,967,040 shares, compared to its average volume of 18,832,119. The company has a market cap of $524.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.88, a P/E/G ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.49. Walmart Inc. has a 52 week low of $48.34 and a 52 week high of $65.19. The company has a quick ratio of 0.23, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $60.48 and a 200 day moving average of $56.65.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 16th. The retailer reported $0.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.52 by $0.08. Walmart had a return on equity of 21.57% and a net margin of 2.88%. The company had revenue of $161.50 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $159.57 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.49 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Walmart Inc. will post 2.39 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Walmart Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, January 6th. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.2075 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $0.83 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.27%. Walmart’s payout ratio is 35.52%.

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.