Barings LLC Acquires 347 Shares of Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)

Barings LLC raised its holdings in shares of Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) by 11.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,471 shares of the retailer’s stock after acquiring an additional 347 shares during the quarter. Barings LLC’s holdings in Walmart were worth $314,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Coyle Financial Counsel LLC grew its stake in shares of Walmart by 3.1% during the 4th quarter. Coyle Financial Counsel LLC now owns 3,431 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $310,000 after acquiring an additional 102 shares in the last quarter. SC&H Financial Advisors Inc. grew its stake 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 valued at $924,000 after buying an additional 103 shares in the last quarter. Blackston Financial Advisory Group LLC grew its stake 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 valued at $1,417,000 after buying an additional 106 shares in the last quarter. Scarborough Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Walmart by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. Scarborough Advisors LLC now owns 5,584 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $505,000 after buying an additional 109 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dakota Community Bank & Trust NA grew its stake in shares of Walmart by 4.0% in the fourth quarter. Dakota Community Bank & Trust NA now owns 2,879 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $260,000 after buying an additional 110 shares in the last quarter. 26.76% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Walmart news, EVP John R. Furner sold 13,125 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $92.60, for a total transaction of $1,215,375.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 566,794 shares in the company, valued at approximately $52,485,124.40. This represents a 2.26 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO C Douglas Mcmillon sold 29,124 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 3,558,247 shares in the company, valued at approximately $344,972,046.65. This represents a 0.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 185,777 shares of company stock worth $17,657,316. Corporate insiders own 45.58% of the company’s stock.

Walmart Stock Down 3.1 %

Shares of NYSE WMT opened at $91.68 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40. The company has a market cap of $736.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.04, a PEG ratio of 4.42 and a beta of 0.53. Walmart Inc. has a 12 month low of $58.56 and a 12 month high of $105.30. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $96.19 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $88.35.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 20th. The retailer reported $0.66 earnings per share (EPS) 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 company had revenue of $180.55 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $178.83 billion. As a group, analysts forecast that Walmart Inc. will post 2.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Walmart Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, January 5th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 12th will be issued a dividend of $0.235 per share. This represents a $0.94 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.03%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 12th. Walmart’s payout ratio is 39.00%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently weighed in on WMT. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Walmart from $100.00 to $108.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. DZ Bank raised Walmart from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $110.00 price target for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price target on Walmart from $98.00 to $102.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on Walmart from $89.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Piper Sandler raised their price target on Walmart from $93.00 to $118.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Walmart presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $103.07.

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.