Vision Financial Markets LLC Purchases New Position in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)

Vision Financial Markets LLC bought a new position in shares of Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm bought 6,513 shares of the retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $588,000.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Walmart in the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. Peterson Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in Walmart during the third quarter worth $26,000. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Walmart during the fourth quarter worth $27,000. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Walmart during the fourth quarter worth $32,000. Finally, Hara Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Walmart during the third quarter worth $37,000. Institutional investors own 26.76% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on WMT shares. StockNews.com cut Walmart from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their target price on Walmart from $98.00 to $102.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. KeyCorp raised their target price on Walmart from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. Tigress Financial raised their price target on Walmart from $86.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised 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. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $103.07.

Walmart Stock Performance

WMT opened at $96.00 on Thursday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $96.15 and a 200 day simple moving average of $88.09. The company has a market capitalization of $771.16 billion, a PE ratio of 39.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.42 and a beta of 0.53. Walmart Inc. has a 1 year low of $58.56 and a 1 year high of $105.30. 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 released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The retailer reported $0.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.64 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $180.55 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $178.83 billion. Walmart had a return on equity of 21.87% and a net margin of 2.85%. Research analysts expect that Walmart Inc. will post 2.55 EPS for the current year.

Walmart Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, January 5th. Investors of record on Friday, December 12th will be paid a $0.235 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 12th. This represents a $0.94 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.98%. Walmart’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 39.00%.

Insider Activity at Walmart

In other Walmart news, EVP John R. Furner sold 13,125 shares of Walmart stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $92.60, for a total value of $1,215,375.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 566,794 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $52,485,124.40. The trade was a 2.26 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO C Douglas Mcmillon sold 29,124 shares of Walmart stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $92.35, for a total value of $2,689,601.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly 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 in the last ninety days. 45.58% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Walmart Company 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.