Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT Buys 8,125 Shares of Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)

Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT boosted its holdings in shares of Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) by 3.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 222,839 shares of the retailer’s stock after purchasing an additional 8,125 shares during the period. Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT’s holdings in Walmart were worth $20,134,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Walmart during the fourth quarter worth $27,000. Peterson Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in Walmart in the 3rd quarter valued at $26,000. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. bought a new stake in Walmart during the fourth quarter worth about $32,000. Voisard Asset Management Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Walmart by 77.3% during the 3rd quarter. Voisard Asset Management Group Inc. now owns 399 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 174 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hara Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Walmart in the third quarter valued at $37,000. Institutional investors own 26.76% of the company’s stock.

Walmart Trading Down 6.5 %

Shares of WMT stock opened at $97.22 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42, a quick ratio of 0.23 and a current ratio of 0.85. The company has a market capitalization of $781.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.90, a PEG ratio of 4.40 and a beta of 0.55. Walmart Inc. has a 52-week low of $57.60 and a 52-week high of $105.30. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $95.62 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $86.25.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The retailer reported $0.66 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.64 by $0.02. Walmart had a return on equity of 21.78% and a net margin of 2.92%. Research analysts anticipate that Walmart Inc. will post 2.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Walmart Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 21st will be paid a $0.235 dividend. This is an increase from Walmart’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. This represents a $0.94 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.97%. Walmart’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 34.06%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Walmart

In other Walmart news, EVP Daniel J. Bartlett sold 1,600 shares of Walmart stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $103.99, for a total transaction of $166,384.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 423,597 shares in the company, valued at $44,049,852.03. The trade was a 0.38 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP David Chojnowski sold 5,600 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $91.45, for a total value of $512,120.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 87,404 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,993,095.80. This represents a 6.02 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 176,777 shares of company stock valued at $16,570,112 in the last quarter. 45.58% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Oppenheimer raised their target price on shares of Walmart from $100.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on Walmart from $89.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of Walmart from $80.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Piper Sandler raised their target price on shares of Walmart from $93.00 to $118.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, KeyCorp upped their price objective on Walmart from $96.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $101.87.

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.