Petros Family Wealth LLC Purchases New Shares in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)

Petros Family Wealth LLC acquired a new position in shares of Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 6,163 shares of the retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $557,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. World Investment Advisors grew its holdings in Walmart by 7.6% during the 4th quarter. World Investment Advisors now owns 271,515 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $24,532,000 after purchasing an additional 19,233 shares during the last quarter. Candriam S.C.A. boosted its position in shares of Walmart by 209.7% during the fourth quarter. Candriam S.C.A. now owns 885,008 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $79,960,000 after buying an additional 599,257 shares during the period. Bank of New Hampshire grew its stake in shares of Walmart by 13.7% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New Hampshire now owns 47,949 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $4,332,000 after buying an additional 5,786 shares during the last quarter. Modera Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Walmart by 4.8% in the fourth quarter. Modera Wealth Management LLC now owns 203,150 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $18,355,000 after buying an additional 9,292 shares during the period. Finally, Iowa State Bank lifted its stake in shares of Walmart by 213.8% during the 4th quarter. Iowa State Bank now owns 26,807 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $2,422,000 after acquiring an additional 18,263 shares during the last quarter. 26.76% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have commented on WMT. Erste Group Bank downgraded Walmart from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Roth Mkm reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $108.00 price target (up previously from $97.00) on shares of Walmart in a research note on Friday, February 21st. KeyCorp boosted their price objective on shares of Walmart from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on shares of Walmart from $93.00 to $91.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Tigress Financial lifted their price target on shares of Walmart from $86.00 to $115.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $103.58.

Insider Transactions at Walmart

In other Walmart news, EVP Daniel J. Bartlett sold 1,830 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $91.07, for a total transaction of $166,658.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 460,705 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $41,956,404.35. This trade represents a 0.40 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP John D. Rainey sold 38,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $98.80, for a total transaction of $3,754,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 257,281 shares in the company, valued at $25,419,362.80. This trade represents a 12.87 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 178,852 shares of company stock worth $16,785,080. Company insiders own 45.58% of the company’s stock.

Walmart Stock Up 2.4 %

Shares of WMT stock opened at $92.81 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $92.43 and its 200 day moving average price is $89.88. Walmart Inc. has a 1-year low of $58.56 and a 1-year high of $105.30. The company has a market cap of $744.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.42 and a beta of 0.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.23.

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

Walmart Announces Dividend

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 issued a $0.235 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 12th. This represents a $0.94 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.01%. Walmart’s dividend payout ratio is currently 39.00%.

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.