Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd Sells 81,916 Shares of Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)

Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd trimmed its stake in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) by 16.1% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 427,330 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 81,916 shares during the period. Walmart accounts for about 0.9% of Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 17th largest position. Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd’s holdings in Walmart were worth $34,507,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WMT. Acorn Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Walmart by 14.2% during the third quarter. Acorn Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,726 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $301,000 after acquiring an additional 462 shares during the period. Private Trust Co. NA boosted its stake in Walmart by 3.1% during the 3rd quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 53,049 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $4,284,000 after purchasing an additional 1,592 shares during the period. Diversified LLC grew its holdings in Walmart by 8.5% in the 3rd quarter. Diversified LLC now owns 12,210 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $986,000 after buying an additional 956 shares during the last quarter. Truvestments Capital LLC increased its position in Walmart by 17.1% in the 3rd quarter. Truvestments Capital LLC now owns 7,640 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $617,000 after buying an additional 1,113 shares during the period. Finally, Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Walmart by 2.9% during the third quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 194,326 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $15,692,000 after buying an additional 5,529 shares during the last quarter. 26.76% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Walmart Stock Down 1.1 %

NYSE WMT opened at $89.45 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $82.29 and its 200 day simple moving average is $74.14. Walmart Inc. has a one year low of $49.85 and a one year high of $90.95. The firm has a market cap of $719.02 billion, a PE ratio of 36.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.29 and a beta of 0.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a current ratio of 0.85 and a quick ratio of 0.23.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, November 19th. The retailer reported $0.58 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $169.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $167.69 billion. Walmart had a return on equity of 21.78% and a net margin of 2.92%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.51 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Walmart Inc. will post 2.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on WMT. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on shares of Walmart from $81.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 14th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Walmart from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. Telsey Advisory Group upped their price objective on shares of Walmart from $92.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on Walmart from $73.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 16th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price target on Walmart from $77.00 to $83.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 16th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $91.88.

Insider Activity

In other Walmart news, major shareholder S Robson Walton sold 4,057,369 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.20, for a total transaction of $313,228,886.80. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 611,988,318 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $47,245,498,149.60. The trade was a 0.66 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP John D. Rainey sold 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.48, for a total transaction of $232,440.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 384,165 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,765,104.20. The trade was a 0.77 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 12,337,337 shares of company stock valued at $958,823,647 over the last three months. 45.58% of the stock is owned by 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.