Birch Hill Investment Advisors LLC Purchases 298 Shares of Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)

Birch Hill Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) by 3.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 9,673 shares of the retailer’s stock after purchasing an additional 298 shares during the period. Birch Hill Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Walmart were worth $874,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Walmart during the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. Peterson Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Walmart in the third quarter valued at $26,000. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Walmart during the 4th quarter valued at $32,000. Voisard Asset Management Group Inc. lifted its holdings in 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 purchasing an additional 174 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Livelsberger Financial Advisory bought a new position in Walmart in the 3rd quarter worth about $36,000. 26.76% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Walmart Stock Down 1.6 %

WMT opened at $101.17 on Monday. Walmart Inc. has a 1-year low of $55.85 and a 1-year high of $103.11. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $94.07 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $84.26. The company has a current ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 0.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42. The company has a market capitalization of $812.73 billion, a PE ratio of 41.52, a PEG ratio of 4.25 and a beta of 0.55.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, November 19th. The retailer reported $0.58 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.53 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $169.59 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $167.69 billion. Walmart had a return on equity of 21.78% and a net margin of 2.92%. Walmart’s quarterly revenue was up 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.51 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Walmart Inc. will post 2.48 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, 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 value of $3,754,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 257,281 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $25,419,362.80. This represents a 12.87 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO C Douglas Mcmillon sold 29,124 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $91.44, for a total value of $2,663,098.56. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 3,814,805 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $348,825,769.20. The trade was a 0.76 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 175,177 shares of company stock worth $16,403,728 over the last three months. 45.58% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently issued reports on WMT. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $105.00 price objective on shares of Walmart in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. KeyCorp upped their price objective on Walmart from $96.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Evercore ISI upped their price target on shares of Walmart from $94.00 to $96.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Guggenheim boosted their price objective on shares of Walmart from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. Finally, Tigress Financial boosted their target price on shares of Walmart from $86.00 to $115.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $96.01.

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.