Marshall Investment Management LLC Buys Shares of 32,530 Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)

Marshall Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 32,530 shares of the retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $2,939,000. Walmart comprises approximately 1.7% of Marshall Investment Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 22nd largest position.

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on WMT shares. Evercore ISI upped their target price on shares of Walmart from $94.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Tigress Financial lifted their price objective on shares of Walmart from $86.00 to $115.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Walmart from $98.00 to $108.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Walmart from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Walmart from $97.00 to $112.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, February 10th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $102.43.

Insider Transactions at Walmart

In related news, EVP Daniel J. Bartlett sold 1,600 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $103.99, for a total transaction of $166,384.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 423,597 shares in the company, valued at approximately $44,049,852.03. This represents a 0.38 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Robert Edward Jr. Moritz bought 5,446 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 27th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $91.81 per share, for a total transaction of $499,997.26. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 7,805 shares in the company, valued at approximately $716,577.05. This represents a 230.86 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 176,777 shares of company stock valued at $16,570,112 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 45.58% of the company’s stock.

Walmart Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:WMT opened at $94.70 on Friday. Walmart Inc. has a 1 year low of $57.77 and a 1 year high of $105.30. 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 price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.42 and a beta of 0.55. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $95.63 and its 200 day simple moving average is $86.57.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last announced its earnings results 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. Walmart had a net margin of 2.85% and a return on equity of 21.87%. The business had revenue of $180.55 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $178.83 billion. As a group, research analysts predict that Walmart Inc. will post 2.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Walmart Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, January 5th. Stockholders 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 0.99%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 12th. Walmart’s payout ratio is presently 34.44%.

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.