Helium Advisors LLC Takes $404,000 Position in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)

Helium Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund bought 4,475 shares of the retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $404,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Breakthru Advisory Services LLC bought a new stake in shares of Walmart in the 4th quarter valued at about $526,000. Sunbelt Securities Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Walmart by 3.7% in the 4th quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 41,550 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $3,763,000 after purchasing an additional 1,473 shares during the period. Fourth Dimension Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of Walmart in the 4th quarter valued at about $649,000. Stonebridge Financial Planning Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Walmart by 4.3% in the 4th quarter. Stonebridge Financial Planning Group LLC now owns 6,353 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $574,000 after purchasing an additional 260 shares during the period. Finally, Vise Technologies Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Walmart by 30.8% in the 4th quarter. Vise Technologies Inc. now owns 138,586 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $12,521,000 after purchasing an additional 32,665 shares during the period. 26.76% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO C Douglas Mcmillon sold 29,124 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $96.95, for a total value of $2,823,571.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,558,247 shares in the company, valued at approximately $344,972,046.65. This represents a 0.81% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Kathryn J. Mclay sold 4,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.95, for a total value of $343,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 888,309 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $76,350,158.55. The trade was a 0.45% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 148,435 shares of company stock worth $13,886,290. Corporate insiders own 45.58% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on WMT shares. KeyCorp upped their target price on shares of Walmart from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Walmart from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, May 12th. Mizuho began coverage on shares of Walmart in a report on Friday, April 11th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $105.00 price target on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Walmart from $100.00 to $108.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Telsey Advisory Group reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Walmart in a report on Wednesday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-one have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $104.94.

Walmart Stock Performance

NYSE WMT opened at $95.95 on Friday. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $767.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.81, a P/E/G ratio of 4.42 and a beta of 0.70. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $92.12 and its 200 day simple moving average is $92.82. Walmart Inc. has a 1 year low of $64.16 and a 1 year high of $105.30.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 15th. The retailer reported $0.61 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.58 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $165.61 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $164.53 billion. Walmart had a net margin of 2.85% and a return on equity of 21.87%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.60 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Walmart Inc. will post 2.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Walmart Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 27th. Investors of record on Monday, May 12th will be given a dividend of $0.235 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 9th. This represents a dividend yield of 0.95%. Walmart’s dividend payout ratio is 40.17%.

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.