Pitti Group Wealth Management LLC Invests $290,000 in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)

Pitti Group Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 3,208 shares of the retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $290,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Parallel Advisors LLC increased its position in Walmart by 6.5% during the fourth quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 146,448 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $13,232,000 after buying an additional 8,968 shares during the period. Cibc World Markets Corp increased its position in Walmart by 43.1% during the fourth quarter. Cibc World Markets Corp now owns 1,810,631 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $163,591,000 after buying an additional 545,383 shares during the period. Gray Wealth Management Inc. increased its position in Walmart by 10.5% during the fourth quarter. Gray Wealth Management Inc. now owns 35,682 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $3,224,000 after buying an additional 3,382 shares during the period. IMG Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new position in Walmart during the fourth quarter worth approximately $137,000. Finally, First National Advisers LLC increased its position in Walmart by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. First National Advisers LLC now owns 72,790 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $6,577,000 after buying an additional 1,944 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 26.76% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on WMT shares. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their target price on Walmart from $109.00 to $107.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 21st. Citigroup reissued a “positive” rating on shares of Walmart in a report on Thursday, February 20th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on Walmart from $80.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, November 18th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on Walmart from $89.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Walmart from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $103.20.

Walmart Stock Performance

Walmart stock opened at $85.29 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $685.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.39, a PEG ratio of 4.42 and a beta of 0.53. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $95.74 and a 200 day moving average price of $88.80. Walmart Inc. has a 52 week low of $58.56 and a 52 week high of $105.30. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The retailer reported $0.66 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.64 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $180.55 billion during 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%. Equities research analysts anticipate that Walmart Inc. will post 2.55 earnings per share for the current year.

Walmart Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, January 5th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 12th will be paid a dividend of $0.235 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 12th. This represents a $0.94 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.10%. Walmart’s dividend payout ratio is presently 39.00%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Walmart news, EVP Daniel J. Bartlett sold 1,830 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $91.07, for a total transaction of $166,658.10. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 460,705 shares in the company, valued at $41,956,404.35. This represents a 0.40 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO C Douglas Mcmillon sold 29,124 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $92.35, for a total value of $2,689,601.40. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 3,785,702 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $349,609,579.70. This represents a 0.76 % 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 three months. 45.58% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.