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

Financial Harvest LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund acquired 2,360 shares of the retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $213,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Peterson Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in Walmart in the third quarter worth $26,000. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Walmart in the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. Voisard Asset Management Group Inc. boosted 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 acquiring an additional 174 shares in the last quarter. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Walmart during the 4th quarter valued at about $32,000. Finally, Hara Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Walmart during the 3rd quarter valued at about $37,000. 26.76% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO C Douglas Mcmillon sold 29,124 shares of Walmart stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $91.44, for a total transaction of $2,663,098.56. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 3,814,805 shares in the company, valued at $348,825,769.20. The trade was a 0.76 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Daniel J. Bartlett sold 1,830 shares of the company’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 owns 460,705 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $41,956,404.35. This trade represents a 0.40 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 176,777 shares of company stock valued at $16,570,112 over the last 90 days. 45.58% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on WMT shares. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on Walmart from $100.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Truist Financial upped their price objective on shares of Walmart from $98.00 to $111.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on shares of Walmart from $80.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, November 18th. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and set a $115.00 price target (up from $106.00) on shares of Walmart in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, KeyCorp raised their price target on Walmart from $96.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Walmart currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $101.87.

Walmart Price Performance

Shares of WMT stock opened at $97.22 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $95.62 and its 200-day moving average is $86.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42, a quick ratio of 0.23 and a current ratio of 0.85. Walmart Inc. has a 52 week low of $57.60 and a 52 week high of $105.30. The stock has a market capitalization of $781.02 billion, a PE ratio of 39.90, a PEG ratio of 4.40 and a beta of 0.55.

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

Walmart Increases Dividend

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

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.