Bell Bank Acquires 2,433 Shares of Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)

Bell Bank boosted its holdings in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) by 28.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 10,987 shares of the retailer’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,433 shares during the period. Bell Bank’s holdings in Walmart were worth $993,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WMT. Jennison Associates LLC increased its position in shares of Walmart by 479.6% in the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 18,479,259 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,492,200,000 after acquiring an additional 15,290,936 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its stake in shares of Walmart by 12.9% during the 3rd 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 boosted its holdings in shares of Walmart by 3.3% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 87,617,409 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $7,048,465,000 after buying an additional 2,786,061 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Walmart by 4.6% in the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 47,659,844 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $3,848,533,000 after buying an additional 2,107,197 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec increased its holdings in 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 buying an additional 2,018,271 shares during the last quarter. 26.76% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WMT has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their price target on Walmart from $98.00 to $102.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Walmart from $98.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Walmart from $100.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. StockNews.com cut shares of Walmart from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. Finally, Bank of America boosted their price objective on Walmart from $95.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $102.43.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP David Chojnowski sold 5,600 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $91.45, for a total value of $512,120.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 87,404 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,993,095.80. This trade represents a 6.02 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Daniel J. Bartlett sold 1,830 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $91.07, for a total transaction of $166,658.10. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 460,705 shares in the company, valued at $41,956,404.35. This represents a 0.40 % 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 over the last quarter. 45.58% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Walmart Stock Down 2.6 %

WMT stock opened at $94.70 on Friday. Walmart Inc. has a 1-year low of $57.77 and a 1-year high of $105.30. The stock has a market cap 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 stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $95.63 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $86.44. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40.

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 the consensus estimate 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 analyst estimates of $178.83 billion. Analysts expect that Walmart Inc. will post 2.55 EPS for the current year.

Walmart Dividend Announcement

The firm 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. This represents a $0.94 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.99%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 12th. Walmart’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 34.44%.

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.