Horizon Financial Services LLC Grows Position in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)

Horizon Financial Services LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) by 1,007.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 288 shares of the retailer’s stock after buying an additional 262 shares during the quarter. Horizon Financial Services LLC’s holdings in Walmart were worth $26,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WMT. IPG Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Walmart by 32.6% in the fourth quarter. IPG Investment Advisors LLC now owns 33,610 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $3,042,000 after acquiring an additional 8,258 shares in the last quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group grew its stake in shares of Walmart by 10.1% during the fourth quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 6,426,063 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $580,595,000 after acquiring an additional 591,052 shares in the last quarter. American Money Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Walmart in the 4th quarter valued at about $381,000. Allianz SE acquired a new position in shares of Walmart in the 4th quarter valued at about $14,879,000. Finally, Tucker Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in Walmart by 88.2% in the fourth quarter. Tucker Asset Management LLC now owns 1,272 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $115,000 after buying an additional 596 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 26.76% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Walmart

In other Walmart news, EVP Kathryn J. Mclay sold 4,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.95, for a total transaction of $343,800.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 888,309 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $76,350,158.55. This represents a 0.45 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO C Douglas Mcmillon sold 29,124 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $96.95, for a total value of $2,823,571.80. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 3,558,247 shares in the company, valued at approximately $344,972,046.65. This trade represents a 0.81 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 147,528 shares of company stock valued at $14,096,140 in the last 90 days. 45.58% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Walmart from $97.00 to $112.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, February 10th. Evercore ISI decreased their target price on shares of Walmart from $107.00 to $100.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. Tigress Financial boosted their price objective on shares of Walmart from $86.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price target on Walmart from $99.00 to $93.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, Roth Mkm reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $108.00 price target (up previously from $97.00) on shares of Walmart in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Two 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, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $103.17.

Walmart Trading Down 0.6 %

WMT stock opened at $85.08 on Friday. Walmart Inc. has a 52 week low of $58.56 and a 52 week high of $105.30. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $94.62 and a 200-day simple moving average of $89.32. The company has a quick ratio of 0.23, a current ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40. The company has a market cap of $682.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.30, a PEG ratio of 4.42 and a beta of 0.53.

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 firm had revenue of $180.55 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $178.83 billion. Walmart had a net margin of 2.85% and a return on equity of 21.87%. On average, equities research analysts expect that Walmart Inc. will post 2.55 EPS for the current year.

Walmart Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced 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 of this dividend is Friday, December 12th. This represents a $0.94 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.10%. Walmart’s payout ratio is currently 39.00%.

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.