Forvis Mazars Wealth Advisors LLC Decreases Stock Holdings in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)

Forvis Mazars Wealth Advisors LLC decreased its holdings in shares of Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) by 0.2% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 207,733 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 510 shares during the period. Forvis Mazars Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Walmart were worth $18,769,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Lansing Street Advisors raised its stake in Walmart by 4.8% during the fourth quarter. Lansing Street Advisors now owns 4,104 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $371,000 after purchasing an additional 188 shares in the last quarter. Howard Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in Walmart by 5.3% during the fourth quarter. Howard Capital Management Inc. now owns 27,631 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $2,496,000 after purchasing an additional 1,397 shares in the last quarter. WESPAC Advisors LLC raised its stake in Walmart by 2.0% during the fourth quarter. WESPAC Advisors LLC now owns 13,623 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,231,000 after purchasing an additional 262 shares in the last quarter. Integral Investment Advisors Inc. raised its stake in Walmart by 6.8% during the fourth quarter. Integral Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 12,132 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,096,000 after purchasing an additional 777 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wealthspire Advisors LLC raised its stake in Walmart by 15.4% during the fourth quarter. Wealthspire Advisors LLC now owns 81,862 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $7,396,000 after purchasing an additional 10,913 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 26.76% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Roth Mkm reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $108.00 price target (up previously from $97.00) on shares of Walmart in a research note on Friday. DZ Bank downgraded shares of Walmart from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $91.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on shares of Walmart from $100.00 to $115.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Walmart from $98.00 to $108.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their target price on shares of Walmart from $94.00 to $96.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Two investment 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 MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $102.43.

Walmart Stock Down 2.6 %

NYSE:WMT opened at $94.70 on Friday. Walmart Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $57.77 and a fifty-two week high of $105.30. The stock has a market capitalization 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. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40, a quick ratio of 0.23 and a current ratio of 0.82. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $95.63 and its 200-day simple moving average is $86.57.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The retailer reported $0.66 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.64 by $0.02. Walmart had a net margin of 2.85% and a return on equity of 21.87%. The business had revenue of $180.55 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $178.83 billion. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Walmart Inc. will post 2.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Walmart Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Daniel J. Bartlett sold 1,600 shares of Walmart stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 directly owns 423,597 shares in the company, valued at $44,049,852.03. This trade represents a 0.38 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP John D. Rainey sold 38,000 shares of Walmart stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $98.80, for a total transaction of $3,754,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 257,281 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $25,419,362.80. This trade represents a 12.87 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 176,777 shares of company stock worth $16,570,112 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 45.58% of the company’s stock.

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.