Walmart Inc. $WMT Shares Bought by Aptus Capital Advisors LLC

Aptus Capital Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) by 10.1% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 612,569 shares of the retailer’s stock after purchasing an additional 56,437 shares during the quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Walmart were worth $53,777,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Watts Gwilliam & Co. LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Walmart by 2.8% during the first quarter. Watts Gwilliam & Co. LLC now owns 24,950 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $2,190,000 after acquiring an additional 690 shares during the period. Aviso Financial Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Walmart by 33.6% during the first quarter. Aviso Financial Inc. now owns 7,264 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $638,000 after acquiring an additional 1,825 shares during the period. Granite Harbor Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Walmart by 19.9% during the first quarter. Granite Harbor Advisors Inc. now owns 9,997 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $878,000 after acquiring an additional 1,656 shares during the period. Brooklyn Investment Group boosted its holdings in shares of Walmart by 22.6% during the first quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 41,719 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $3,662,000 after acquiring an additional 7,692 shares during the period. Finally, TriaGen Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Walmart by 3.3% during the first quarter. TriaGen Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,592 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $315,000 after purchasing an additional 114 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 26.76% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on WMT. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Walmart from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, May 12th. Telsey Advisory Group reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $115.00 target price on shares of Walmart in a research report on Thursday. Tigress Financial increased their target price on shares of Walmart from $115.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 2nd. Mizuho reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $115.00 target price on shares of Walmart in a research report on Wednesday, August 13th. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their target price on shares of Walmart from $107.00 to $108.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 12th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $109.29.

Walmart Price Performance

Shares of WMT opened at $99.96 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $797.72 billion, a PE ratio of 42.72, a PEG ratio of 4.80 and a beta of 0.66. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $97.60 and its 200 day moving average price is $95.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a quick ratio of 0.22 and a current ratio of 0.78. Walmart Inc. has a twelve month low of $72.52 and a twelve month high of $105.30.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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. Walmart had a net margin of 2.75% and a return on equity of 21.76%. The business had revenue of $165.61 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $164.53 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.60 earnings per share. Walmart’s quarterly revenue was up 2.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Walmart Inc. will post 2.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Walmart Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 2nd. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 18th will be issued a $0.235 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 15th. This represents a dividend yield of 90.0%. Walmart’s dividend payout ratio is presently 40.17%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Kathryn J. Mclay sold 4,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $95.14, for a total value of $380,560.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 1,056,455 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $100,511,128.70. This represents a 0.38% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO C Douglas Mcmillon sold 19,416 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $95.58, for a total transaction of $1,855,781.28. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 4,412,398 shares in the company, valued at approximately $421,737,000.84. The trade was a 0.44% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 140,334 shares of company stock worth $13,526,350 in the last quarter. 0.10% of the stock is owned by corporate 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.