Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Co Decreases Stock Holdings in Walmart Inc. $WMT

Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Co reduced its stake in shares of Walmart Inc. (NASDAQ:WMT) by 6.1% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 667,866 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 43,500 shares during the period. Walmart makes up approximately 0.4% of Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Co’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 26th largest position. Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Co’s holdings in Walmart were worth $74,407,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in WMT. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Walmart by 188.1% during the 3rd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 11,663,172 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,199,907,000 after purchasing an additional 7,614,172 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Walmart by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 439,957,146 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $49,015,626,000 after buying an additional 4,304,436 shares during the last quarter. Amundi raised its stake in Walmart by 20.5% in the third quarter. Amundi now owns 23,497,921 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $2,413,236,000 after buying an additional 4,004,277 shares during the last quarter. Danske Bank A S purchased a new stake in Walmart in the third quarter valued at about $294,621,000. Finally, PFA Pension Forsikringsaktieselskab purchased a new stake in Walmart in the fourth quarter valued at about $280,736,000. 26.76% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the company. Guggenheim increased their price target on Walmart from $120.00 to $137.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 13th. Wall Street Zen cut Walmart from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, January 18th. BMO Capital Markets reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Walmart in a research note on Wednesday, January 14th. BTIG Research reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $140.00 price target on shares of Walmart in a research note on Friday, February 20th. Finally, Raymond James Financial reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $135.00 price objective on shares of Walmart in a report on Friday, March 6th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty have given a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Walmart has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $137.79.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Daniel J. Bartlett sold 1,335 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $124.63, for a total transaction of $166,381.05. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 636,843 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $79,369,743.09. This trade represents a 0.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, EVP John D. Rainey sold 20,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $127.79, for a total value of $2,555,800.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 486,764 shares in the company, valued at approximately $62,203,571.56. This trade represents a 3.95% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 243,376 shares of company stock valued at $30,406,250 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.10% of the company’s stock.

Walmart Price Performance

Shares of WMT stock opened at $131.60 on Monday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $125.60 and its 200-day simple moving average is $117.74. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $1.05 trillion, a PE ratio of 48.03, a P/E/G ratio of 4.90 and a beta of 0.65. Walmart Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $91.89 and a fifty-two week high of $134.69.

Walmart (NASDAQ:WMT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 19th. The retailer reported $0.74 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.73 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $190.66 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $188.37 billion. Walmart had a return on equity of 21.44% and a net margin of 3.07%.The company’s revenue was up 5.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.66 earnings per share. Walmart has set its FY 2027 guidance at 2.750-2.850 EPS and its Q1 2027 guidance at 0.610-0.610 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Walmart Inc. will post 2.89 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 issued a dividend of $0.2475 per share. This represents a $0.99 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 11th. Walmart’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 36.13%.

Walmart Profile

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.