High Falls Advisors Inc Sells 476 Shares of Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)

High Falls Advisors Inc cut its stake in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) by 8.5% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,112 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 476 shares during the period. High Falls Advisors Inc’s holdings in Walmart were worth $449,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Walmart during the 1st quarter worth approximately $2,532,331,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in Walmart by 9,896.9% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 7,939,728 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $697,029,000 after purchasing an additional 7,860,306 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its holdings in Walmart by 30.1% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 33,292,749 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $2,922,770,000 after purchasing an additional 7,706,201 shares during the period. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board grew its holdings in Walmart by 28,684.8% during the first quarter. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board now owns 4,229,354 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $371,295,000 after purchasing an additional 4,214,661 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in Walmart by 8.9% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 43,641,936 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $3,943,049,000 after purchasing an additional 3,550,037 shares during the period. 26.76% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Walmart

In related news, EVP John R. Furner sold 13,125 shares of Walmart stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $95.14, for a total transaction of $1,248,712.50. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 932,313 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $88,700,258.82. The trade was a 1.39% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO C Douglas Mcmillon sold 19,416 shares of Walmart stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $95.58, for a total transaction of $1,855,781.28. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 4,412,398 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $421,737,000.84. The trade was a 0.44% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 144,334 shares of company stock worth $13,913,350 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.10% of the company’s stock.

Walmart Stock Performance

Shares of WMT opened at $100.91 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $97.55 and a 200-day moving average of $95.58. Walmart Inc. has a one year low of $72.52 and a one year high of $105.30. The company has a market cap of $805.28 billion, a PE ratio of 43.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.85 and a beta of 0.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 0.78 and a quick ratio of 0.22.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 2.75% and a return on equity of 21.76%. The company had revenue of $165.61 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $164.53 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.60 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 2.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Walmart Inc. will post 2.55 earnings per share for the current year.

Walmart Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 2nd. Investors of record on Monday, August 18th will be issued a dividend of $0.235 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 15th. This represents a dividend yield of 90.0%. Walmart’s payout ratio is presently 40.17%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on WMT. Telsey Advisory Group restated an “outperform” rating and set a $115.00 price objective on shares of Walmart in a report on Thursday. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on shares of Walmart from $100.00 to $110.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, May 16th. Truist Financial increased their price objective on shares of Walmart from $107.00 to $111.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Walmart from $112.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 8th. Finally, Erste Group Bank raised shares of Walmart from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-one have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Walmart has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $107.47.

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.