Industrial Alliance Investment Management Inc. Sells 29,920 Shares of Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)

Industrial Alliance Investment Management Inc. trimmed its position in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT – Get Rating) by 37.9% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 48,998 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 29,920 shares during the quarter. Industrial Alliance Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Walmart were worth $6,355,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of WMT. AMI Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Walmart by 1.6% during the 1st quarter. AMI Investment Management Inc. now owns 8,269 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,231,000 after acquiring an additional 132 shares during the last quarter. Zions Bancorporation N.A. lifted its holdings in shares of Walmart by 36.8% during the 1st quarter. Zions Bancorporation N.A. now owns 4,820 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $718,000 after acquiring an additional 1,296 shares during the last quarter. Covestor Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of Walmart by 31.7% during the 1st quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 1,162 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $173,000 after acquiring an additional 280 shares during the last quarter. Ergoteles LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Walmart by 123.9% during the 1st quarter. Ergoteles LLC now owns 10,566 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,573,000 after acquiring an additional 5,847 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mackenzie Financial Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Walmart by 1.7% during the 1st quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 857,839 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $127,749,000 after acquiring an additional 13,985 shares during the last quarter. 31.27% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director S Robson Walton sold 1,550,332 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $138.21, for a total value of $214,271,385.72. Following the transaction, the director now owns 257,930,893 shares in the company, valued at $35,648,628,721.53. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other news, major shareholder Jim C. Walton sold 1,077,204 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $138.08, for a total value of $148,740,328.32. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 259,481,225 shares in the company, valued at $35,829,167,548. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director S Robson Walton sold 1,550,332 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $138.21, for a total transaction of $214,271,385.72. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 257,930,893 shares in the company, valued at approximately $35,648,628,721.53. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 9,830,325 shares of company stock valued at $1,378,798,478 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 47.06% of the company’s stock.

Walmart Trading Up 1.1 %

NYSE:WMT opened at $139.64 on Thursday. Walmart Inc. has a one year low of $117.27 and a one year high of $160.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.21. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $142.52 and its 200 day simple moving average is $141.01. The firm has a market capitalization of $376.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.63, a PEG ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 0.48.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT – Get Rating) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 21st. The retailer reported $1.71 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.51 by $0.20. Walmart had a net margin of 1.91% and a return on equity of 20.45%. The business had revenue of $164.05 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $158.67 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.53 earnings per share. Walmart’s quarterly revenue was up 7.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Walmart Inc. will post 6.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Walmart Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, January 2nd. Investors of record on Friday, December 8th will be paid a dividend of $0.57 per share. This represents a $2.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.63%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, December 7th. Walmart’s payout ratio is currently 52.34%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Sanford C. Bernstein assumed coverage on shares of Walmart in a report on Tuesday, December 6th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $159.00 price objective for the company. Tigress Financial raised shares of Walmart from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $170.00 to $176.00 in a report on Thursday, January 26th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on shares of Walmart from $149.00 to $157.00 in a research report on Wednesday, November 16th. UBS Group set a $168.00 target price on shares of Walmart in a research report on Wednesday, February 22nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. set a $155.00 target price on shares of Walmart in a research report on Tuesday, February 21st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, twenty-three have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $162.44.

Walmart Profile

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Walmart, Inc engages in retail and wholesale business. The company offers an assortment of merchandise and services at everyday low prices. It operates through the following business segments: Walmart U.S., Walmart International, and Sam’s Club. The Walmart U.S. segment operates as a merchandiser of consumer products, operating under the Walmart, Wal-Mart, and Walmart Neighborhood Market brands, as well as walmart.com and other eCommerce brands.