Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) Position Boosted by Unisphere Establishment

Unisphere Establishment grew its stake in shares of Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) by 641.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,187,000 shares of the retailer’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,027,000 shares during the quarter. Walmart makes up 0.9% of Unisphere Establishment’s portfolio, making the stock its 27th largest holding. Unisphere Establishment’s holdings in Walmart were worth $107,245,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Parvin Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Walmart during the 4th quarter valued at $586,000. Bridgewealth Advisory Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Walmart by 83.7% during the 4th quarter. Bridgewealth Advisory Group LLC now owns 16,999 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,536,000 after buying an additional 7,743 shares during the last quarter. Voleon Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in Walmart in the 4th quarter worth approximately $11,220,000. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Walmart by 253.2% in the 4th quarter. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC now owns 398,453 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $36,000,000 after purchasing an additional 285,647 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Walmart by 22.9% during the fourth quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 5,334,041 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $481,931,000 after buying an additional 995,080 shares during the last quarter. 26.76% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WMT has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Guggenheim restated a “buy” rating and issued a $100.00 target price on shares of Walmart in a research note on Monday, February 24th. DZ Bank upgraded shares of Walmart from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $110.00 price target for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. KeyCorp upped their price target on shares of Walmart from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on shares of Walmart from $93.00 to $118.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, Mizuho began coverage on shares of Walmart in a research report on Friday, April 11th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $105.00 price target on the stock. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $103.58.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Walmart news, EVP Daniel J. Bartlett sold 1,600 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $103.99, for a total value of $166,384.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 423,597 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $44,049,852.03. This represents a 0.38 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO C Douglas Mcmillon sold 29,124 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $96.95, for a total transaction of $2,823,571.80. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,558,247 shares in the company, valued at $344,972,046.65. This represents a 0.81 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 169,657 shares of company stock valued at $15,984,929 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 45.58% of the company’s stock.

Walmart Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:WMT opened at $96.02 on Wednesday. Walmart Inc. has a twelve month low of $58.58 and a twelve month high of $105.30. The stock has a market capitalization of $768.25 billion, a PE ratio of 39.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.42 and a beta of 0.69. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $90.38 and its 200-day moving average price is $91.05. The company has a quick ratio of 0.23, a current ratio of 0.82 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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.64 by $0.02. Walmart had a return on equity of 21.87% and a net margin of 2.85%. The business had revenue of $180.55 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $178.83 billion. Equities research analysts expect that Walmart Inc. will post 2.55 EPS for the current year.

Walmart Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, January 5th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 12th will be paid a dividend of $0.235 per share. This represents a $0.94 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.98%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 12th. Walmart’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.