Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC Sells 60,936 Shares of Walmart Inc. $WMT

Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC cut its holdings in shares of Walmart Inc. (NASDAQ:WMT) by 81.5% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 13,861 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 60,936 shares during the quarter. Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC’s holdings in Walmart were worth $1,429,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WMT. Collier Financial acquired a new stake in Walmart in the third quarter valued at $25,000. Your Advocates Ltd. LLP acquired a new position in Walmart during the 3rd quarter worth about $28,000. Redmont Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Walmart during the 3rd quarter worth about $30,000. Roble Belko & Company Inc grew its position in shares of Walmart by 212.6% in the 3rd quarter. Roble Belko & Company Inc now owns 322 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 219 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Manning & Napier Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Walmart in the third quarter valued at about $39,000. 26.76% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Walmart Trading Up 0.6%

Shares of WMT stock opened at $125.12 on Wednesday. Walmart Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $79.81 and a fifty-two week high of $134.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a quick ratio of 0.24 and a current ratio of 0.79. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $122.37 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $111.44. The company has a market cap of $997.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 45.66, a PEG ratio of 4.63 and a beta of 0.66.

Walmart (NASDAQ:WMT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 19th. The retailer reported $0.74 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.73 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $190.66 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $188.37 billion. Walmart had a return on equity of 21.44% and a net margin of 3.07%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.66 EPS. Walmart has set its FY 2027 guidance at 2.750-2.850 EPS and its Q1 2027 guidance at 0.610-0.610 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Walmart Inc. will post 2.55 earnings per share for the current year.

Walmart Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, January 4th. Investors of record on Friday, December 11th will be paid a dividend of $0.2475 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 11th. This represents a $0.99 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.8%. Walmart’s dividend payout ratio is currently 34.31%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director C Douglas Mcmillon sold 19,416 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $126.71, for a total transaction of $2,460,201.36. Following the transaction, the director owned 4,023,209 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $509,780,812.39. This represents a 0.48% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Christopher James Nicholas sold 34,082 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $122.00, for a total value of $4,158,004.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 533,466 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $65,082,852. This represents a 6.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last three months, insiders sold 279,703 shares of company stock valued at $34,140,843. 0.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WMT has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Erste Group Bank reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Walmart in a research note on Thursday, March 5th. Truist Financial raised their price target on shares of Walmart from $127.00 to $139.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 20th. Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $150.00 price target on shares of Walmart in a research report on Tuesday, February 17th. Telsey Advisory Group upped their price objective on shares of Walmart from $135.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 20th. Finally, DA Davidson set a $150.00 price objective on shares of Walmart and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 20th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty have issued a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $135.76.

About Walmart

Walmart is a multinational retail corporation that operates a broad portfolio of store formats and digital services. Its core business includes large-format supercenters, discount department stores, neighborhood grocery stores and a membership warehouse chain, Sam’s Club. The company’s merchandising mix covers groceries, household goods, apparel, electronics and pharmacy services, supplemented by private-label products and category-specific offerings. Walmart pairs its physical store network with online platforms and mobile applications to provide omnichannel shopping, fulfillment and delivery options for consumers and businesses.

The company was founded by Sam Walton, who opened the first store in Rogers, Arkansas in 1962; it is headquartered in Bentonville, Arkansas.