Barrington Strategic Wealth Management Group LLC lowered its position in shares of Wal-Mart Stores Inc (NYSE:WMT) by 0.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 13,158 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 30 shares during the period. Barrington Strategic Wealth Management Group LLC’s holdings in Wal-Mart Stores were worth $909,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.
Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Macquarie Group Ltd. increased its stake in Wal-Mart Stores by 29.8% in the second quarter. Macquarie Group Ltd. now owns 48,187 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $3,519,000 after buying an additional 11,057 shares during the last quarter. Bremer Trust National Association increased its stake in Wal-Mart Stores by 1.9% in the third quarter. Bremer Trust National Association now owns 13,577 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $979,000 after buying an additional 253 shares during the last quarter. Oliver Luxxe Assets LLC purchased a new stake in Wal-Mart Stores during the third quarter worth $1,878,000. Lawson Kroeker Investment Management Inc. NE increased its stake in Wal-Mart Stores by 0.5% in the third quarter. Lawson Kroeker Investment Management Inc. NE now owns 106,061 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $7,649,000 after buying an additional 570 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Canal Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Wal-Mart Stores by 10.1% in the third quarter. Canal Capital Management LLC now owns 16,792 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,211,000 after buying an additional 1,539 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 29.69% of the company’s stock.
Wal-Mart Stores Inc (NYSE:WMT) traded up 0.19% during midday trading on Friday, reaching $74.94. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 5,755,691 shares. Wal-Mart Stores Inc has a 52 week low of $62.72 and a 52 week high of $75.19. The company’s 50-day moving average is $71.41 and its 200 day moving average is $69.88. The firm has a market capitalization of $227.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.11 and a beta of 0.09. Wal-Mart Stores also was the recipient of unusually large options trading activity on Thursday. Stock traders bought 35,280 call options on the stock. This is an increase of 383% compared to the typical volume of 7,309 call options.
The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, January 2nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 8th will be paid a dividend of $0.51 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, December 6th. This represents a $2.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.72%. Wal-Mart Stores’s dividend payout ratio is presently 43.48%.
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Several analysts have weighed in on the company. KeyCorp reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $90.00 price objective on shares of Wal-Mart Stores in a research report on Wednesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. set a $68.00 price objective on Wal-Mart Stores and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 23rd. TheStreet raised Wal-Mart Stores from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 23rd. Goldman Sachs Group Inc set a $74.00 target price on Wal-Mart Stores and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 22nd. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on Wal-Mart Stores from $70.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 22nd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eighteen have assigned a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Wal-Mart Stores presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $75.33.
In other news, major shareholder Jim C. Walton sold 3,000,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.50, for a total transaction of $211,500,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 10,507,127 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $740,752,453.50. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, major shareholder Alice L. Walton sold 4,542,361 shares of Wal-Mart Stores stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.54, for a total transaction of $320,418,144.94. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 6,748,580 shares in the company, valued at approximately $476,044,833.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 15,585,041 shares of company stock valued at $1,110,035,611 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 51.55% of the company’s stock.
About Wal-Mart Stores
Wal-Mart Stores, Inc is engaged in the operation of retail, wholesale and other units in various formats around the world. The Company operates through three segments: Walmart U.S., Walmart International and Sam’s Club. The Walmart U.S. segment includes its mass merchant concept in the United States operating under the Walmart or Wal-Mart brands, as well as digital retail.
