Cowa LLC Cuts Stock Position in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)

Cowa LLC cut its holdings in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) by 12.5% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 12,168 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 1,732 shares during the quarter. Cowa LLC’s holdings in Walmart were worth $1,099,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in WMT. Jennison Associates LLC increased its position in shares of Walmart by 479.6% during the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 18,479,259 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,492,200,000 after purchasing an additional 15,290,936 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its position in shares of Walmart by 12.9% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 63,135,639 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $5,098,203,000 after purchasing an additional 7,200,004 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Walmart by 3.3% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 87,617,409 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $7,048,465,000 after purchasing an additional 2,786,061 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of Walmart by 4.6% during the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 47,659,844 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $3,848,533,000 after purchasing an additional 2,107,197 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec increased its position in shares of Walmart by 53.1% during the third quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 5,820,606 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $470,014,000 after purchasing an additional 2,018,271 shares in the last quarter. 26.76% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WMT has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Citigroup boosted their price objective on Walmart from $98.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. UBS Group lowered their price objective on Walmart from $113.00 to $112.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. DZ Bank lowered Walmart from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $91.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Walmart from $97.00 to $112.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Walmart from $100.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $102.43.

Walmart Price Performance

Shares of NYSE WMT opened at $94.70 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $95.63 and its two-hundred day moving average is $86.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.23. Walmart Inc. has a 1-year low of $57.77 and a 1-year high of $105.30. The company has a market cap of $760.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.42 and a beta of 0.55.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The retailer reported $0.66 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $180.55 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $178.83 billion. Analysts forecast that Walmart Inc. will post 2.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Walmart Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, January 5th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 12th will be issued a dividend of $0.235 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 12th. This represents a $0.94 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.99%. Walmart’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 34.44%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO C Douglas Mcmillon sold 29,124 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 27th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at approximately $348,825,769.20. This represents a 0.76 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Robert Edward Jr. Moritz acquired 5,446 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 27th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $91.81 per share, for a total transaction of $499,997.26. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 7,805 shares in the company, valued at approximately $716,577.05. The trade was a 230.86 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 176,777 shares of company stock worth $16,570,112 in the last quarter. 45.58% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.