142,656 Shares in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) Purchased by GF Fund Management CO. LTD.

GF Fund Management CO. LTD. acquired a new stake in shares of Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund acquired 142,656 shares of the retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $12,889,000.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Tallon Kerry Patrick bought a new position in shares of Walmart during the fourth quarter worth about $252,000. LaFleur & Godfrey LLC grew its position in Walmart by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. LaFleur & Godfrey LLC now owns 69,542 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $6,283,000 after purchasing an additional 992 shares during the last quarter. Missouri Trust & Investment Co increased its stake in shares of Walmart by 2.6% in the fourth quarter. Missouri Trust & Investment Co now owns 21,860 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,975,000 after purchasing an additional 555 shares during the period. West Branch Capital LLC increased its stake in shares of Walmart by 4.5% in the fourth quarter. West Branch Capital LLC now owns 69,915 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $6,317,000 after purchasing an additional 3,034 shares during the period. Finally, Advisory Alpha LLC raised its holdings in shares of Walmart by 3.5% during the fourth quarter. Advisory Alpha LLC now owns 29,408 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $2,657,000 after buying an additional 988 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 26.76% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently issued reports on WMT. Barclays reissued an “overweight” rating on shares of Walmart in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $102.00 target price on shares of Walmart in a research report on Friday, May 16th. KeyCorp raised their target price on shares of Walmart from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Citigroup reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Walmart in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Walmart in a research note on Monday, May 5th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-one have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Walmart presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $104.94.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Walmart news, EVP Kathryn J. Mclay sold 4,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.95, for a total transaction of $343,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 888,309 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $76,350,158.55. The trade was a 0.45% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO C Douglas Mcmillon sold 29,124 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.63, for a total value of $2,493,888.12. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,972,517 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $340,166,630.71. This trade represents a 0.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 177,583 shares of company stock worth $16,701,404 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 45.58% of the company’s stock.

Walmart Stock Up 0.6%

Shares of NYSE WMT opened at $96.49 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.23, a current ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40. The firm has a market cap of $772.00 billion, a PE ratio of 40.04, a P/E/G ratio of 4.42 and a beta of 0.70. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $92.33 and its 200 day simple moving average is $92.90. Walmart Inc. has a 12-month low of $64.16 and a 12-month high of $105.30.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 15th. The retailer reported $0.61 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.58 by $0.03. Walmart had a return on equity of 21.87% and a net margin of 2.85%. The business had revenue of $165.61 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $164.53 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.60 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 2.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Walmart Inc. will post 2.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Walmart Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 27th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 12th will be given a dividend of $0.235 per share. This represents a dividend yield of 0.95%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 9th. Walmart’s payout ratio is 40.17%.

Walmart 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.