Advantage Trust Co Sells 1,200 Shares of Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)

Advantage Trust Co lessened its stake in shares of Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) by 12.7% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 8,268 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 1,200 shares during the quarter. Walmart comprises approximately 0.4% of Advantage Trust Co’s holdings, making the stock its 21st largest holding. Advantage Trust Co’s holdings in Walmart were worth $747,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Ipswich Investment Management Co. Inc. bought a new stake in Walmart during the 4th quarter valued at $204,000. Bell Bank increased its position in shares of Walmart by 28.4% in the fourth quarter. Bell Bank now owns 10,987 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $993,000 after acquiring an additional 2,433 shares during the period. LifeSteps Financial Inc. raised its stake in shares of Walmart by 4.7% during the fourth quarter. LifeSteps Financial Inc. now owns 8,523 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $770,000 after acquiring an additional 385 shares during the last quarter. Peregrine Asset Advisers Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Walmart by 27.9% during the fourth quarter. Peregrine Asset Advisers Inc. now owns 6,098 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $551,000 after purchasing an additional 1,330 shares during the period. Finally, Lloyd Advisory Services LLC. grew its stake in shares of Walmart by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. Lloyd Advisory Services LLC. now owns 5,348 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $483,000 after purchasing an additional 117 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 26.76% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Walmart

In other Walmart news, EVP Daniel J. Bartlett sold 1,600 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $103.99, for a total value of $166,384.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 423,597 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $44,049,852.03. This trade represents a 0.38 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO C Douglas Mcmillon sold 29,124 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $91.44, for a total value of $2,663,098.56. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 3,814,805 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $348,825,769.20. This trade represents a 0.76 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 176,777 shares of company stock worth $16,570,112. 45.58% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have commented on WMT. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Walmart from $100.00 to $108.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Tigress Financial upped their target price on Walmart from $86.00 to $115.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. DZ Bank cut shares of Walmart from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $91.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Thursday, November 21st. UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of Walmart from $113.00 to $112.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. Finally, Roth Mkm reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $108.00 target price (up from $97.00) on shares of Walmart in a research report on Friday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $102.43.

Walmart Trading Down 2.6 %

WMT opened at $94.70 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $95.63 and a 200 day moving average of $86.44. 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 $57.77 and a 12 month high of $105.30. The firm has a market cap of $760.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.30, a P/E/G ratio of 4.42 and a beta of 0.55.

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. Walmart had a return on equity of 21.87% and a net margin of 2.85%. The firm had revenue of $180.55 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $178.83 billion. As a group, research analysts forecast that Walmart Inc. will post 2.55 EPS for the current year.

Walmart Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, January 5th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 12th will be paid a $0.235 dividend. This represents a $0.94 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.99%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 12th. Walmart’s dividend payout ratio is currently 34.44%.

Walmart Company 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.