Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. Purchases 14,805 Shares of Walmart Inc. $WMT

Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. boosted its position in Walmart Inc. (NASDAQ:WMT) by 23.2% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 78,587 shares of the retailer’s stock after acquiring an additional 14,805 shares during the quarter. Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd.’s holdings in Walmart were worth $8,762,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Collier Financial bought a new stake in Walmart in the 3rd quarter valued at about $25,000. Your Advocates Ltd. LLP bought a new stake in Walmart in the 3rd quarter valued at about $28,000. Beacon Financial Strategies CORP bought a new stake in Walmart in the 4th quarter valued at about $30,000. Redmont Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Walmart during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $30,000. Finally, Bay Harbor Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in Walmart by 57.4% during the 4th quarter. Bay Harbor Wealth Management LLC now owns 288 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 105 shares in the last quarter. 26.76% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other Walmart news, Director C Douglas Mcmillon sold 19,416 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $132.21, for a total transaction of $2,566,989.36. Following the sale, the director owned 4,193,995 shares in the company, valued at $554,488,078.95. This represents a 0.46% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, EVP Christopher James Nicholas sold 2,900 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $124.72, for a total value of $361,688.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 596,008 shares in the company, valued at approximately $74,334,117.76. This represents a 0.48% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 167,195 shares of company stock valued at $20,975,804. 0.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Walmart Trading Up 0.4%

NASDAQ:WMT opened at $130.79 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $1.04 trillion, a P/E ratio of 47.73, a P/E/G ratio of 4.85 and a beta of 0.65. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $125.76 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $117.90. Walmart Inc. has a 1 year low of $91.89 and a 1 year high of $134.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 0.79 and a quick ratio of 0.24.

Walmart (NASDAQ:WMT) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 19th. The retailer reported $0.74 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.73 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $190.66 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $188.37 billion. Walmart had a return on equity of 21.44% and a net margin of 3.07%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 5.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $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. As a group, analysts expect that Walmart Inc. will post 2.89 EPS for the current year.

Walmart Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, January 4th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 11th will be given a dividend of $0.2475 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 11th. This represents a $0.99 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.8%. Walmart’s dividend payout ratio is currently 36.13%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have commented on WMT. Erste Group Bank raised Walmart from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 2nd. Jefferies Financial Group set a $145.00 price objective on Walmart in a report on Friday, February 20th. Barclays reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $125.00 price objective (up from $108.00) on shares of Walmart in a report on Thursday, January 8th. Citigroup reissued a “buy” rating and set a $147.00 price objective (up from $120.00) on shares of Walmart in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, TD Cowen reissued a “buy” rating and set a $145.00 price objective (up from $136.00) on shares of Walmart in a report on Friday, February 20th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty have issued a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Walmart currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $137.79.

Walmart Company 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.