Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) Shares Sold by American Century Companies Inc.

American Century Companies Inc. trimmed its holdings in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) by 17.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,989,254 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 619,610 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc.’s holdings in Walmart were worth $270,079,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Coyle Financial Counsel LLC raised its position in shares of Walmart by 3.1% in the fourth quarter. Coyle Financial Counsel LLC now owns 3,431 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $310,000 after buying an additional 102 shares during the last quarter. SC&H Financial Advisors Inc. increased its position in Walmart by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. SC&H Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 10,232 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $924,000 after purchasing an additional 103 shares during the last quarter. Blackston Financial Advisory Group LLC increased its position in Walmart by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Blackston Financial Advisory Group LLC now owns 15,685 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,417,000 after purchasing an additional 106 shares during the last quarter. Van Strum & Towne Inc. increased its position in Walmart by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. Van Strum & Towne Inc. now owns 6,849 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $619,000 after purchasing an additional 108 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Scarborough Advisors LLC increased its position in Walmart by 2.0% during the fourth quarter. Scarborough Advisors LLC now owns 5,584 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $505,000 after purchasing an additional 109 shares during the last quarter. 26.76% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on WMT shares. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective on shares of Walmart from $99.00 to $93.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. Evercore ISI cut their price objective on shares of Walmart from $107.00 to $100.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and set a $115.00 price objective (up from $106.00) on shares of Walmart in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price objective on shares of Walmart from $109.00 to $107.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Finally, Truist Financial increased their target price on shares of Walmart from $98.00 to $111.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Walmart currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $103.17.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Walmart news, EVP John R. Furner sold 13,125 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $92.60, for a total transaction of $1,215,375.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 566,794 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $52,485,124.40. This trade represents a 2.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP John D. Rainey sold 38,000 shares of the firm’s 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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 257,281 shares in the company, valued at approximately $25,419,362.80. The trade was a 12.87 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 189,777 shares of company stock valued at $18,001,116. 45.58% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Walmart Stock Up 0.1 %

Shares of Walmart stock opened at $85.94 on Friday. Walmart Inc. has a 52-week low of $58.56 and a 52-week high of $105.30. The company has a 50 day moving average of $95.19 and a 200 day moving average of $88.95. The company has a quick ratio of 0.23, a current ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40. The company has a market capitalization of $688.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.66, a P/E/G ratio of 4.42 and a beta of 0.53.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The retailer reported $0.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $180.55 billion during 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 fiscal year.

Walmart Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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 of this dividend is Friday, December 12th. This represents a $0.94 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.09%. Walmart’s payout ratio is currently 39.00%.

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.