Advisor OS LLC Grows Stake in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)

Advisor OS LLC lifted its stake in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) by 2.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 31,703 shares of the retailer’s stock after buying an additional 662 shares during the period. Advisor OS LLC’s holdings in Walmart were worth $2,864,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of WMT. Swedbank AB boosted its stake in shares of Walmart by 0.4% in the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 5,345,293 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $431,632,000 after purchasing an additional 18,644 shares during the period. Investment Partners Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Walmart by 27.7% in the 3rd quarter. Investment Partners Asset Management Inc. now owns 5,737 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $463,000 after buying an additional 1,243 shares in the last quarter. Concord Wealth Partners boosted its position in Walmart by 24.1% in the 3rd quarter. Concord Wealth Partners now owns 22,016 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,778,000 after buying an additional 4,269 shares during the last quarter. Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC grew its stake in shares of Walmart by 1.5% during the third quarter. Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC now owns 54,296 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $4,384,000 after acquiring an additional 816 shares in the last quarter. Finally, TCI Wealth Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of Walmart by 9.0% during the third quarter. TCI Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 20,591 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,663,000 after acquiring an additional 1,703 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 26.76% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently commented on WMT shares. Bank of America increased their price target on Walmart from $95.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. UBS Group reduced their target price on Walmart from $113.00 to $112.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 21st. KeyCorp raised their price target on shares of Walmart from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on shares of Walmart from $100.00 to $115.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, Truist Financial raised their price objective on shares of Walmart from $98.00 to $111.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $103.07.

Insider Activity at Walmart

In other Walmart news, EVP John R. Furner sold 13,125 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $92.60, for a total transaction of $1,215,375.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 566,794 shares in the company, valued at $52,485,124.40. This represents a 2.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO C Douglas Mcmillon sold 29,124 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $92.35, for a total value of $2,689,601.40. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 3,785,702 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $349,609,579.70. The trade was a 0.76 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 146,528 shares of company stock valued at $13,849,185. 45.58% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Walmart Stock Performance

Shares of WMT stock opened at $97.81 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $785.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.59, a P/E/G ratio of 4.42 and a beta of 0.55. Walmart Inc. has a 1-year low of $58.18 and a 1-year high of $105.30. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $95.65 and its 200-day simple moving average is $87.10.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The retailer reported $0.66 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.64 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $180.55 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $178.83 billion. Walmart had a return on equity of 21.87% and a net margin of 2.85%. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Walmart Inc. will post 2.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Walmart Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, January 5th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 12th will be paid a dividend of $0.235 per share. This represents a $0.94 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.96%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 12th. Walmart’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 39.00%.

About Walmart

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.