Pine Valley Investments Ltd Liability Co Acquires 848 Shares of Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)

Pine Valley Investments Ltd Liability Co increased its holdings in shares of Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) by 1.8% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 48,623 shares of the retailer’s stock after buying an additional 848 shares during the quarter. Pine Valley Investments Ltd Liability Co’s holdings in Walmart were worth $4,398,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. SC&H Financial Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of Walmart by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. SC&H Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 10,232 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $924,000 after purchasing an additional 103 shares during the period. Blackston Financial Advisory Group LLC increased its holdings in Walmart by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Blackston Financial Advisory Group LLC now owns 15,685 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,417,000 after buying an additional 106 shares during the last quarter. Scarborough Advisors LLC raised its position in Walmart by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. Scarborough Advisors LLC now owns 5,584 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $505,000 after acquiring an additional 109 shares during the period. Dakota Community Bank & Trust NA boosted its stake in Walmart by 4.0% in the fourth quarter. Dakota Community Bank & Trust NA now owns 2,879 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $260,000 after acquiring an additional 110 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Rooted Wealth Advisors Inc. grew its position in shares of Walmart by 2.6% during the 4th quarter. Rooted Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 4,344 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $394,000 after acquiring an additional 110 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 26.76% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Daniel J. Bartlett sold 1,600 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $103.99, for a total transaction of $166,384.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 423,597 shares in the company, valued at $44,049,852.03. This trade represents a 0.38 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Christopher James Nicholas sold 17,600 shares of the firm’s 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 sale, the executive vice president now owns 348,357 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $32,891,867.94. This represents a 4.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 194,377 shares of company stock valued at $18,231,904 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 45.58% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently commented on WMT. Telsey Advisory Group reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $115.00 price target on shares of Walmart in a report on Friday. StockNews.com lowered Walmart from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. Tigress Financial upped their price target on Walmart from $86.00 to $115.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on Walmart from $100.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, Guggenheim reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $100.00 price objective on shares of Walmart in a report on Monday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $102.43.

Walmart Trading Down 1.2 %

Shares of WMT stock opened at $93.64 on Tuesday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $95.60 and a 200 day moving average of $86.89. 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 Inc. has a 1-year low of $58.18 and a 1-year high of $105.30. The stock has a market capitalization of $752.21 billion, a PE ratio of 38.85, a P/E/G ratio of 4.42 and a beta of 0.55.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 20th. The retailer reported $0.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.64 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $180.55 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $178.83 billion. Walmart had a net margin of 2.85% and a return on equity of 21.87%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Walmart Inc. will post 2.55 earnings per share 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. This represents a $0.94 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.00%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 12th. Walmart’s dividend payout ratio is currently 39.00%.

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.