Bahl & Gaynor Inc. Sells 2,883 Shares of Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)

Bahl & Gaynor Inc. reduced its stake in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) by 2.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 116,694 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 2,883 shares during the quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc.’s holdings in Walmart were worth $10,543,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its position in shares of Walmart by 479.6% in the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 18,479,259 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,492,200,000 after buying an additional 15,290,936 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its stake in shares of Walmart by 12.9% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 63,135,639 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $5,098,203,000 after buying an additional 7,200,004 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its stake in shares of Walmart by 14.0% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 32,020,800 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $2,893,079,000 after buying an additional 3,927,173 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Walmart by 3.3% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 87,617,409 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $7,048,465,000 after purchasing an additional 2,786,061 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its stake in Walmart by 4.6% in the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 47,659,844 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $3,848,533,000 after purchasing an additional 2,107,197 shares in the last quarter. 26.76% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

WMT has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Telsey Advisory Group restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Walmart in a report on Friday. Bank of America increased their price objective on Walmart from $95.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. TD Cowen raised their target price on Walmart from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. Roth Mkm reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $108.00 price target (up from $97.00) on shares of Walmart in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Walmart from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $103.07.

Walmart Trading Down 2.9 %

Shares of Walmart stock opened at $94.74 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $761.04 billion, a PE ratio of 39.31, a P/E/G ratio of 4.42 and a beta of 0.55. Walmart Inc. has a twelve month low of $58.56 and a twelve month high of $105.30. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $96.08 and its 200 day moving average price is $88.03. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The retailer reported $0.66 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.64 by $0.02. Walmart had a net margin of 2.85% and a return on equity of 21.87%. The business had revenue of $180.55 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $178.83 billion. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Walmart Inc. will post 2.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Walmart Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, January 5th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 12th will be paid a $0.235 dividend. This represents a $0.94 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.99%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 12th. Walmart’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 39.00%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP John R. Furner sold 13,125 shares of Walmart stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $92.60, for a total transaction of $1,215,375.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 566,794 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $52,485,124.40. The trade was a 2.26 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Daniel J. Bartlett sold 1,600 shares of Walmart stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $103.99, for a total transaction of $166,384.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 423,597 shares in the company, valued at approximately $44,049,852.03. The trade was a 0.38 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 185,777 shares of company stock valued at $17,657,316 in the last ninety days. 45.58% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.