8,897 Shares in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) Bought by Challenger Wealth Management

Challenger Wealth Management bought a new position in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 8,897 shares of the retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $804,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Putney Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Walmart in the fourth quarter valued at about $93,000. Vermillion Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Walmart in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $786,000. Forum Financial Management LP raised its position in Walmart by 4.0% in the 4th quarter. Forum Financial Management LP now owns 75,100 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $6,785,000 after buying an additional 2,897 shares during the last quarter. Griffith & Werner Inc. bought a new stake in Walmart in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $285,000. Finally, Sunbeam Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Walmart during the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,309,000. 26.76% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on WMT. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on shares of Walmart from $93.00 to $118.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their target price on shares of Walmart from $93.00 to $91.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. KeyCorp lifted their price target on shares of Walmart from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. DZ Bank raised shares of Walmart from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $110.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. Finally, Oppenheimer increased their price objective on shares of Walmart from $100.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th. Two equities research 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, Walmart presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $104.94.

Walmart Price Performance

Walmart stock opened at $96.49 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $772.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.04, a PEG ratio of 4.42 and a beta of 0.70. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40. Walmart Inc. has a 12 month low of $64.16 and a 12 month high of $105.30. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $92.33 and its 200-day moving average is $92.97.

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

Walmart Announces Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP John D. Rainey sold 2,200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $97.37, for a total value of $214,214.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 632,718 shares in the company, valued at approximately $61,607,751.66. The trade was a 0.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO C Douglas Mcmillon sold 29,148 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $96.58, for a total value of $2,815,113.84. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 4,451,199 shares in the company, valued at $429,896,799.42. This represents a 0.65% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 177,583 shares of company stock valued at $16,701,404. 45.58% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.