Magnus Financial Group LLC Raises Position in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)

Magnus Financial Group LLC grew its position in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) by 5.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,425 shares of the retailer’s stock after acquiring an additional 301 shares during the period. Magnus Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Walmart were worth $855,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Walmart by 0.6% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 137,214,807 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $21,944,764,000 after acquiring an additional 751,713 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley boosted its holdings in Walmart by 1.8% during the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 24,087,268 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $3,852,277,000 after buying an additional 426,388 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in Walmart by 8.5% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 16,873,127 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $2,698,519,000 after buying an additional 1,317,729 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in Walmart by 4.0% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 14,765,278 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $2,361,411,000 after buying an additional 562,256 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its holdings in Walmart by 0.6% during the third quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 13,011,647 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $2,081,120,000 after buying an additional 78,981 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 26.76% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently commented on the stock. Tigress Financial boosted their price objective on shares of Walmart from $65.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 13th. StockNews.com raised shares of Walmart from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 21st. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on shares of Walmart to $66.67 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 26th. Stifel Europe lifted their target price on shares of Walmart from $56.33 to $58.33 in a research report on Friday, February 16th. Finally, Telsey Advisory Group restated an “outperform” rating and set a $68.00 target price on shares of Walmart in a research report on Wednesday, March 27th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-five have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $61.75.

Walmart Price Performance

WMT opened at $59.32 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.24, a current ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46. Walmart Inc. has a 52-week low of $48.34 and a 52-week high of $61.65. The company has a 50 day moving average of $59.99 and a two-hundred day moving average of $55.90. The company has a market cap of $478.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.00, a P/E/G ratio of 3.93 and a beta of 0.49.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 20th. The retailer reported $0.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.55 by $0.05. Walmart had a net margin of 2.39% and a return on equity of 21.08%. The company had revenue of $173.40 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $170.85 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.57 earnings per share. Walmart’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that Walmart Inc. will post 2.36 earnings per share for the current year.

Walmart Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, January 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be paid a dividend of $0.2075 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $0.83 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.40%. Walmart’s dividend payout ratio is currently 43.38%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Walmart news, Director S Robson Walton sold 14,685,327 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.61, for a total transaction of $860,755,966.56. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 656,397,261 shares in the company, valued at $38,473,631,458.08. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other news, EVP John D. Rainey sold 3,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.72, for a total value of $167,160.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 530,613 shares in the company, valued at $29,565,756.36. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director S Robson Walton sold 14,685,327 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.61, for a total transaction of $860,755,966.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 656,397,261 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $38,473,631,458.08. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 29,019,140 shares of company stock worth $1,696,035,551 over the last ninety days. 46.51% of the stock is owned by company 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.