Nixon Peabody Trust Co. Grows Stock Holdings in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)

Nixon Peabody Trust Co. grew its stake in shares of Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) by 1.4% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 198,763 shares of the retailer’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,761 shares during the quarter. Walmart accounts for about 1.5% of Nixon Peabody Trust Co.’s holdings, making the stock its 19th biggest holding. Nixon Peabody Trust Co.’s holdings in Walmart were worth $17,958,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of WMT. Swedbank AB increased its holdings in Walmart by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 5,345,293 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $431,632,000 after buying an additional 18,644 shares during the period. Financial Advocates Investment Management increased its holdings in Walmart by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter. Financial Advocates Investment Management now owns 19,299 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,558,000 after buying an additional 464 shares during the period. Goldstone Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Walmart during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $367,000. Baron Silver Stevens Financial Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Walmart by 3.9% during the 3rd quarter. Baron Silver Stevens Financial Advisors LLC now owns 7,493 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $605,000 after purchasing an additional 284 shares during the period. Finally, Reston Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Walmart during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $86,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 26.76% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WMT has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of Walmart from $95.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. Piper Sandler increased their target price on Walmart from $93.00 to $118.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Oppenheimer increased their target price on Walmart from $100.00 to $110.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Telsey Advisory Group reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Walmart in a research report on Friday. Finally, Truist Financial increased their target price on Walmart from $98.00 to $111.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. One investment 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. According to MarketBeat.com, Walmart currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $103.07.

Walmart Stock Performance

NYSE WMT opened at $98.65 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $792.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.94, a P/E/G ratio of 4.42 and a beta of 0.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.23. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $95.90 and a two-hundred day moving average of $87.44. Walmart Inc. has a 1-year low of $58.20 and a 1-year high of $105.30.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The retailer reported $0.66 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.64 by $0.02. The company 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%. As a group, analysts anticipate that Walmart Inc. will post 2.55 EPS for the current year.

Walmart Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, January 5th. Investors of record on Friday, December 12th will be paid a dividend of $0.235 per share. This represents a $0.94 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.95%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 12th. Walmart’s payout ratio is 39.00%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Walmart news, EVP John R. Furner sold 13,125 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $96.15, for a total value of $1,261,968.75. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 460,672 shares in the company, valued at approximately $44,293,612.80. The trade was a 2.77 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO C Douglas Mcmillon sold 29,124 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 3,785,702 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $349,609,579.70. This represents a 0.76 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 188,777 shares of company stock worth $17,934,726 over the last 90 days. 45.58% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.