1,481 Shares in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) Acquired by Richard P Slaughter Associates Inc

Richard P Slaughter Associates Inc acquired a new position in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT – Get Rating) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 1,481 shares of the retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $210,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in WMT. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in Walmart by 1,519.2% during the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 8,129,341 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,054,376,000 after purchasing an additional 7,627,286 shares in the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. lifted its holdings in Walmart by 2.9% during the third quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 96,570,711 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $12,525,224,000 after purchasing an additional 2,712,886 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Walmart by 1.4% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 130,176,496 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $16,883,890,000 after purchasing an additional 1,832,388 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings in Walmart by 7.6% during the second quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 23,919,371 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $2,908,117,000 after purchasing an additional 1,685,320 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its holdings in Walmart by 34.2% during the first quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 5,258,231 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $783,056,000 after purchasing an additional 1,340,328 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 31.27% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WMT has been the topic of several analyst reports. Roth Capital reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Walmart in a report on Tuesday, February 14th. Sanford C. Bernstein initiated coverage on shares of Walmart in a report on Tuesday, December 6th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $159.00 price target on the stock. UBS Group set a $168.00 price target on shares of Walmart in a report on Wednesday, February 22nd. Barclays began coverage on shares of Walmart in a report on Tuesday, February 7th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $159.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Gordon Haskett raised shares of Walmart from a “hold” rating to an “accumulate” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $145.00 to $155.00 in a report on Friday, February 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, twenty-three have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $162.44.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director S Robson Walton sold 1,550,332 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $138.21, for a total value of $214,271,385.72. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 257,930,893 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $35,648,628,721.53. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Walmart news, Director S Robson Walton sold 1,550,332 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $138.21, for a total transaction of $214,271,385.72. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 257,930,893 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $35,648,628,721.53. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, major shareholder Jim C. Walton sold 852,215 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $144.26, for a total transaction of $122,940,535.90. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 266,841,420 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $38,494,543,249.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 9,830,325 shares of company stock valued at $1,378,798,478 over the last three months. 47.06% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Walmart Stock Up 0.8 %

Shares of WMT opened at $139.40 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $375.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.57, a P/E/G ratio of 4.18 and a beta of 0.48. Walmart Inc. has a 12-month low of $117.27 and a 12-month high of $160.77. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $142.27 and a 200-day moving average price of $141.04.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT – Get Rating) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 21st. The retailer reported $1.71 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.51 by $0.20. Walmart had a net margin of 1.91% and a return on equity of 20.45%. The company had revenue of $164.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $158.67 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.53 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that Walmart Inc. will post 6.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Walmart Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, January 2nd. Investors of record on Friday, December 8th will be paid a $0.57 dividend. This represents a $2.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.64%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, December 7th. Walmart’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 52.34%.

Walmart Company Profile

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Walmart, Inc engages in retail and wholesale business. The company offers an assortment of merchandise and services at everyday low prices. It operates through the following business segments: Walmart U.S., Walmart International, and Sam’s Club. The Walmart U.S. segment operates as a merchandiser of consumer products, operating under the Walmart, Wal-Mart, and Walmart Neighborhood Market brands, as well as walmart.com and other eCommerce brands.