Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. Trims Holdings in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)

Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. decreased its stake in shares of Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) by 4.7% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 161,125 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 7,881 shares during the quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc.’s holdings in Walmart were worth $25,401,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WMT. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its position in Walmart by 15,371.4% during the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 3,511,225 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $553,545,000 after buying an additional 3,488,530 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC increased its stake in Walmart by 46.1% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 4,491,137 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $718,271,000 after acquiring an additional 1,416,359 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC increased 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 acquiring an additional 1,317,729 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Walmart by 0.6% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 137,214,807 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $21,944,764,000 after acquiring an additional 751,713 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its stake in Walmart by 161.6% during the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,157,620 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $182,499,000 after acquiring an additional 715,125 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 26.76% of the company’s stock.

Walmart Stock Up 1.2 %

NYSE WMT traded up $0.73 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $60.60. 14,517,142 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 18,471,379. The stock has a market cap of $488.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.91 and a beta of 0.49. 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 company has a 50 day moving average price of $60.08 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $56.12. Walmart Inc. has a 1 year low of $48.34 and a 1 year high of $61.65.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last announced 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. The company had revenue of $173.40 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $170.85 billion. Walmart had a return on equity of 21.08% and a net margin of 2.39%. Walmart’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.57 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Walmart Inc. will post 2.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Walmart Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, January 6th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be issued a $0.2075 dividend. This represents a $0.83 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.37%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. Walmart’s payout ratio is currently 43.38%.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP John D. Rainey sold 3,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.08, for a total value of $177,240.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 521,613 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $30,816,896.04. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Walmart news, EVP John D. Rainey sold 3,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.08, for a total transaction of $177,240.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 521,613 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $30,816,896.04. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Jim C. Walton sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.78, for a total value of $117,560.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 656,395,261 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $38,582,913,441.58. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 29,019,140 shares of company stock valued at $1,696,045,631. Insiders own 46.51% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. Tigress Financial raised their target price on Walmart from $65.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 13th. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on Walmart to $66.67 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 26th. Evercore ISI cut their target price on Walmart from $67.00 to $66.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. UBS Group raised their target price on Walmart from $63.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Stifel Europe lifted their price objective on Walmart from $56.33 to $58.33 in a research note on Friday, February 16th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-five have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $61.94.

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.