Live Oak Investment Partners Cuts Position in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)

Live Oak Investment Partners trimmed its holdings in shares of Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) by 10.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 6,501 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 777 shares during the period. Live Oak Investment Partners’ holdings in Walmart were worth $587,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of WMT. Laffer Tengler Investments Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Walmart by 17.2% during the 4th quarter. Laffer Tengler Investments Inc. now owns 167,788 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $15,160,000 after acquiring an additional 24,679 shares in the last quarter. Glass Wealth Management Co LLC raised its position in Walmart by 10.1% in the fourth quarter. Glass Wealth Management Co LLC now owns 3,919 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $354,000 after purchasing an additional 360 shares during the period. Cypress Capital Group lifted its stake in shares of Walmart by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. Cypress Capital Group now owns 141,505 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $12,785,000 after purchasing an additional 2,567 shares in the last quarter. Mainstream Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Walmart by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Mainstream Capital Management LLC now owns 10,871 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $982,000 after buying an additional 113 shares during the period. Finally, SWS Partners grew its stake in shares of Walmart by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. SWS Partners now owns 24,604 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $2,228,000 after buying an additional 378 shares in the last quarter. 26.76% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently commented on the company. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on Walmart from $94.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. KeyCorp boosted their target price on shares of Walmart from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on shares of Walmart from $105.00 to $111.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Roth Mkm reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $108.00 price objective (up previously from $97.00) on shares of Walmart in a report on Friday, February 21st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lowered their target price on Walmart from $109.00 to $107.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 21st. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $103.07.

Walmart Price Performance

Shares of WMT opened at $94.74 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.23. The company has a market cap of $761.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.31, a PEG ratio of 4.42 and a beta of 0.55. Walmart Inc. has a 12 month low of $58.56 and a 12 month high of $105.30. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $96.08 and a 200 day moving average price of $88.03.

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

Walmart Dividend Announcement

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP John R. Furner sold 13,125 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $96.15, for a total transaction of $1,261,968.75. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 460,672 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $44,293,612.80. This represents a 2.77 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Daniel J. Bartlett sold 1,830 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $91.07, for a total value of $166,658.10. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 460,705 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $41,956,404.35. This represents a 0.40 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 185,777 shares of company stock worth $17,657,316 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 45.58% of the company’s stock.

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.