Vertex Planning Partners LLC Purchases 146 Shares of Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)

Vertex Planning Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) by 1.5% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 9,883 shares of the retailer’s stock after acquiring an additional 146 shares during the period. Vertex Planning Partners LLC’s holdings in Walmart were worth $893,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Coyle Financial Counsel LLC boosted its stake in Walmart by 3.1% in the 4th quarter. Coyle Financial Counsel LLC now owns 3,431 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $310,000 after purchasing an additional 102 shares during the period. SC&H Financial Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Walmart by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. SC&H Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 10,232 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $924,000 after buying an additional 103 shares in the last quarter. Blackston Financial Advisory Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Walmart by 0.7% in 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 in the last quarter. Van Strum & Towne Inc. grew its stake in Walmart by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. Van Strum & Towne Inc. now owns 6,849 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $619,000 after acquiring an additional 108 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Scarborough Advisors LLC grew its stake in Walmart by 2.0% during the fourth quarter. Scarborough Advisors LLC now owns 5,584 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $505,000 after acquiring an additional 109 shares in the last quarter. 26.76% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO C Douglas Mcmillon sold 29,124 shares of Walmart stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $92.62, for a total transaction of $2,697,464.88. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,766,491 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $348,852,396.42. The trade was a 0.77 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Christopher James Nicholas sold 17,600 shares of Walmart stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 348,357 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $32,891,867.94. The trade was a 4.81 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 147,528 shares of company stock valued at $14,096,140 in the last quarter. 45.58% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have commented on the stock. KeyCorp boosted their price target on shares of Walmart from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. UBS Group reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Walmart in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on shares of Walmart from $93.00 to $118.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Walmart from $97.00 to $112.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada cut their target price on Walmart from $109.00 to $107.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Walmart currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $103.17.

Walmart Trading Up 0.5 %

NYSE WMT opened at $85.62 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $686.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.53, a P/E/G ratio of 4.42 and a beta of 0.53. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40. Walmart Inc. has a 12-month low of $58.56 and a 12-month high of $105.30. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $94.76 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $89.20.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last posted its quarterly 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. Walmart had a return on equity of 21.87% and a net margin of 2.85%. The business had revenue of $180.55 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $178.83 billion. On average, analysts forecast that Walmart Inc. will post 2.55 earnings per share for the current year.

Walmart Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, January 5th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 12th will be paid a dividend of $0.235 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 12th. This represents a $0.94 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.10%. Walmart’s payout ratio is currently 39.00%.

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.