Delta Financial Group Inc. Purchases New Position in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)

Delta Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor purchased 14,976 shares of the retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $1,353,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WMT. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Walmart in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Peterson Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Walmart in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Walmart in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Voisard Asset Management Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Walmart by 77.3% in the 3rd quarter. Voisard Asset Management Group Inc. now owns 399 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 174 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Decker Retirement Planning Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Walmart in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $32,000. 26.76% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently issued reports on WMT. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on Walmart from $94.00 to $96.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price objective on Walmart from $98.00 to $102.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. StockNews.com downgraded Walmart from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. Citigroup reiterated a “positive” rating on shares of Walmart in a report on Thursday. Finally, Piper Sandler increased their price target on Walmart from $93.00 to $118.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $102.43.

Walmart Stock Down 2.6 %

Walmart stock opened at $94.70 on Friday. 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 market capitalization of $760.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.30, a PEG ratio of 4.42 and a beta of 0.55. Walmart Inc. has a 1-year low of $57.77 and a 1-year high of $105.30. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $95.63 and a 200-day moving average price of $86.57.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 20th. The retailer reported $0.66 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.64 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $180.55 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $178.83 billion. Walmart had a return on equity of 21.87% and a net margin of 2.85%. Equities research analysts forecast that Walmart Inc. will post 2.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Walmart Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, January 5th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 12th will be given a dividend of $0.235 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 12th. This represents a $0.94 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.99%. Walmart’s dividend payout ratio is currently 34.44%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Walmart 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 3,814,805 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $348,825,769.20. The trade was a 0.76 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Daniel J. Bartlett sold 1,600 shares of Walmart stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $103.99, for a total value of $166,384.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 423,597 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $44,049,852.03. This represents a 0.38 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 176,777 shares of company stock valued at $16,570,112. 45.58% of the stock is owned by company 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.