Patrick M Sweeney & Associates Inc. Takes $556,000 Position in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)

Patrick M Sweeney & Associates Inc. bought a new position in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm bought 3,527 shares of the retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $556,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Valley Brook Capital Group Inc. raised its stake in Walmart by 4.2% in the 4th quarter. Valley Brook Capital Group Inc. now owns 7,816 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,232,000 after acquiring an additional 315 shares during the last quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. raised its stake in Walmart by 24.6% in the 4th quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. now owns 78,345 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $12,351,000 after acquiring an additional 15,448 shares during the last quarter. SeaTown Holdings Pte. Ltd. raised its stake in Walmart by 26.6% in the 3rd quarter. SeaTown Holdings Pte. Ltd. now owns 252,600 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $40,398,000 after acquiring an additional 53,000 shares during the last quarter. Capital Wealth Planning LLC raised its stake in Walmart by 32.5% in the 3rd quarter. Capital Wealth Planning LLC now owns 2,117,190 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $338,602,000 after acquiring an additional 518,896 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pittenger & Anderson Inc. raised its stake in shares of Walmart by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. Pittenger & Anderson Inc. now owns 48,468 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $7,751,000 after buying an additional 325 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 26.76% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on WMT shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Walmart from $54.33 to $58.67 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, February 19th. Tigress Financial lifted their price objective on Walmart from $65.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 13th. StockNews.com upgraded Walmart from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 21st. Stifel Nicolaus reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Walmart in a research note on Wednesday, March 13th. Finally, Telsey Advisory Group reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $68.00 price objective on shares of Walmart in a research note on Wednesday, March 27th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-five have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $61.94.

Walmart Price Performance

WMT stock traded down $0.32 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $60.30. The stock had a trading volume of 10,889,715 shares, compared to its average volume of 18,386,242. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a current ratio of 0.83 and a quick ratio of 0.24. Walmart Inc. has a twelve month low of $48.34 and a twelve month high of $61.65. The stock has a market capitalization of $485.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.66, a PEG ratio of 3.91 and a beta of 0.49. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $60.08 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $56.12.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 20th. The retailer reported $0.60 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.55 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $173.40 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $170.85 billion. Walmart had a return on equity of 21.08% and a net margin of 2.39%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.57 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Walmart Inc. will post 2.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Walmart Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, January 6th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.2075 per share. This represents a $0.83 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.38%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. Walmart’s dividend payout ratio is currently 43.38%.

Insider Transactions at Walmart

In other news, CEO C Douglas Mcmillon sold 29,124 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.93, for a total transaction of $1,687,250.40. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 4,076,892 shares in the company, valued at approximately $236,187,943.20. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, major shareholder Jim C. Walton sold 2,000 shares of Walmart stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.78, for a total transaction of $117,560.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 656,395,261 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $38,582,913,441.58. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO C Douglas Mcmillon sold 29,124 shares of Walmart stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.93, for a total transaction of $1,687,250.40. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 4,076,892 shares in the company, valued at approximately $236,187,943.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 29,019,140 shares of company stock worth $1,696,045,631 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 46.51% of the company’s stock.

Walmart Profile

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.