Cable Hill Partners LLC Trims Stock Position in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)

Cable Hill Partners LLC cut its stake in shares of Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) by 7.3% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 6,155 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 482 shares during the quarter. Cable Hill Partners LLC’s holdings in Walmart were worth $557,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. bought a new position in Walmart in the fourth quarter worth approximately $25,000. Peterson Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in Walmart in the third quarter worth approximately $26,000. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Walmart in the fourth quarter worth approximately $27,000. Voisard Asset Management Group Inc. raised its stake in Walmart by 77.3% in the third quarter. Voisard Asset Management Group Inc. now owns 399 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 174 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Decker Retirement Planning Inc. bought a new position in Walmart in the fourth quarter worth approximately $32,000. 26.76% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WMT has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Walmart from $97.00 to $112.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, February 10th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of Walmart from $80.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, November 18th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on Walmart from $89.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on Walmart from $100.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, UBS Group reduced their price target on Walmart from $113.00 to $112.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 21st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Walmart has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $103.07.

Walmart Price Performance

NYSE:WMT opened at $96.11 on Thursday. Walmart Inc. has a one year low of $58.20 and a one year high of $105.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40, a quick ratio of 0.23 and a current ratio of 0.82. The firm has a market cap of $772.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.88, a PEG ratio of 4.42 and a beta of 0.55. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $95.70 and its two-hundred day moving average is $87.17.

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

Walmart Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, January 5th. Investors of record on Friday, December 12th will be given 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 dividend yield of 0.98%. Walmart’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 39.00%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Walmart news, EVP Daniel J. Bartlett sold 1,600 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $103.99, for a total value of $166,384.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 423,597 shares in the company, valued at approximately $44,049,852.03. This represents a 0.38 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Christopher James Nicholas sold 17,600 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $94.42, for a total transaction of $1,661,792.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 348,357 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $32,891,867.94. The trade was a 4.81 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 146,528 shares of company stock worth $13,849,185 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 45.58% 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.