Aviance Capital Partners LLC Reduces Stock Position in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)

Aviance Capital Partners LLC reduced its holdings in shares of Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) by 9.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 6,418 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 642 shares during the quarter. Aviance Capital Partners LLC’s holdings in Walmart were worth $1,012,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Authentikos Wealth Advisory LLC bought a new position in shares of Walmart during the third quarter worth about $25,000. Signature Resources Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Walmart during the 4th quarter worth approximately $35,000. Kepos Capital LP acquired a new position in shares of Walmart in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $40,000. Milestone Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Walmart in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Finally, Fortitude Family Office LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Walmart during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $45,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 26.76% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, major shareholder Jim C. Walton sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.78, for a total transaction of $117,560.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 656,395,261 shares in the company, valued at approximately $38,582,913,441.58. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Walmart news, major shareholder Jim C. Walton sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.78, for a total transaction of $117,560.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 656,395,261 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $38,582,913,441.58. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Alice L. Walton sold 5,970,066 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.27, for a total value of $347,895,646.04. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 671,082,588 shares in the company, valued at approximately $39,106,219,344.72. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 29,019,140 shares of company stock worth $1,696,045,631. Corporate insiders own 46.51% of the company’s stock.

Walmart Trading Up 1.2 %

Shares of Walmart stock traded up $0.73 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $60.60. The stock had a trading volume of 14,517,142 shares, compared to its average volume of 18,471,379. Walmart Inc. has a 1 year low of $48.34 and a 1 year high of $61.65. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $60.08 and a 200 day simple moving average of $56.12. The company has a quick ratio of 0.24, a current ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46. The company has a market capitalization of $488.32 billion, a PE ratio of 31.67, a P/E/G ratio of 3.91 and a beta of 0.49.

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

Walmart Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, January 6th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be paid a $0.2075 dividend. This represents a $0.83 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.37%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. Walmart’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 43.38%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WMT has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Stifel Europe boosted their price objective on shares of Walmart from $56.33 to $58.33 in a research report on Friday, February 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Walmart from $54.33 to $58.67 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, February 19th. Evercore ISI lowered their price objective on Walmart from $67.00 to $66.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. Telsey Advisory Group reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $68.00 target price on shares of Walmart in a research note on Wednesday, March 27th. Finally, Oppenheimer lowered their price target on shares of Walmart to $67.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 26th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-five have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $61.94.

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.