John D. Rainey Sells 3,000 Shares of Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) Stock

Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) EVP John D. Rainey sold 3,000 shares of Walmart stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.08, for a total value of $177,240.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 521,613 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $30,816,896.04. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link.

Walmart Stock Up 0.2 %

NYSE WMT opened at $59.82 on Friday. Walmart Inc. has a 12 month low of $48.34 and a 12 month high of $61.65. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $60.06 and its 200 day simple moving average is $55.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a current ratio of 0.83 and a quick ratio of 0.24. The company has a market capitalization of $482.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.26, a PEG ratio of 3.91 and a beta of 0.49.

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

Walmart Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, January 6th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.2075 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $0.83 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.39%. Walmart’s dividend payout ratio is currently 43.38%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Walmart from $54.33 to $58.67 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, February 19th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on shares of Walmart from $62.00 to $63.33 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 16th. Stifel Europe boosted their price objective on shares of Walmart from $56.33 to $58.33 in a research report on Friday, February 16th. Oppenheimer lowered their price objective on shares of Walmart to $67.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 26th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Walmart from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 21st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-five have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Walmart currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $61.75.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Walmart

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in WMT. Seven Mile Advisory increased its stake in Walmart by 1.6% in the 3rd quarter. Seven Mile Advisory now owns 3,953 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $632,000 after buying an additional 61 shares during the period. Flynn Zito Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Walmart by 3.9% in the 4th quarter. Flynn Zito Capital Management LLC now owns 1,636 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $258,000 after buying an additional 61 shares during the period. ICW Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in Walmart by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. ICW Investment Advisors LLC now owns 15,451 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $2,436,000 after buying an additional 62 shares during the period. Bill Few Associates Inc. increased its stake in Walmart by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Bill Few Associates Inc. now owns 5,806 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $915,000 after buying an additional 64 shares during the period. Finally, Gateway Advisory LLC grew its position in Walmart by 4.1% in the third quarter. Gateway Advisory LLC now owns 1,643 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $263,000 after acquiring an additional 65 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 26.76% of the company’s stock.

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.