Ridgeline Wealth Planning LLC Makes New $253,000 Investment in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)

Ridgeline Wealth Planning LLC bought a new position in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 2,795 shares of the retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $253,000.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Walmart by 3.3% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 87,617,409 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $7,048,465,000 after buying an additional 2,786,061 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its stake in shares of Walmart by 12.9% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 63,135,639 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $5,098,203,000 after buying an additional 7,200,004 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Walmart by 4.6% in the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 47,659,844 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $3,848,533,000 after buying an additional 2,107,197 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Walmart by 3.7% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 41,501,782 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $3,392,658,000 after buying an additional 1,480,927 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Walmart by 1.1% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 31,236,769 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $2,522,369,000 after buying an additional 350,881 shares during the last quarter. 26.76% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on WMT. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Walmart from $100.00 to $113.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. DZ Bank cut shares of Walmart from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $91.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $105.00 target price on shares of Walmart in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. StockNews.com cut shares of Walmart from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Walmart from $90.00 to $98.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 9th. Two equities research 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 stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $98.56.

Insider Activity at Walmart

In other Walmart news, CEO C Douglas Mcmillon sold 29,124 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $91.44, for a total transaction of $2,663,098.56. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,814,805 shares in the company, valued at approximately $348,825,769.20. This trade represents a 0.76 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP John D. Rainey sold 38,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $98.80, for a total transaction of $3,754,400.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 257,281 shares in the company, valued at $25,419,362.80. This trade represents a 12.87 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 175,177 shares of company stock worth $16,403,728 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 45.58% of the company’s stock.

Walmart Stock Performance

Walmart stock opened at $103.62 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $832.42 billion, a PE ratio of 42.53, a PEG ratio of 4.25 and a beta of 0.55. The company’s 50-day moving average is $94.45 and its two-hundred day moving average is $84.82. The company has a current ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 0.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42. Walmart Inc. has a 1 year low of $55.85 and a 1 year high of $103.90.

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

About Walmart

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.