Kentucky Trust Co Takes $2.48 Million Position in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)

Kentucky Trust Co acquired a new stake in shares of Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor acquired 27,446 shares of the retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $2,480,000. Walmart makes up about 1.5% of Kentucky Trust Co’s holdings, making the stock its 16th biggest holding.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. SC&H Financial Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in 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 purchasing an additional 103 shares during the last quarter. Dakota Community Bank & Trust NA boosted its holdings in 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 purchasing an additional 110 shares during the last quarter. Hobart Private Capital LLC raised its position in shares of Walmart by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Hobart Private Capital LLC now owns 6,926 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $626,000 after acquiring an additional 111 shares during the period. Kozak & Associates Inc. raised its position in shares of Walmart by 22.3% in the fourth quarter. Kozak & Associates Inc. now owns 619 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $56,000 after acquiring an additional 113 shares during the period. Finally, Summit Financial Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Walmart by 0.5% in the third quarter. Summit Financial Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 23,720 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,915,000 after acquiring an additional 118 shares during the period. 26.76% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Walmart news, EVP Daniel J. Bartlett sold 1,830 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $91.07, for a total value of $166,658.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 460,705 shares in the company, valued at $41,956,404.35. This trade represents a 0.40 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Robert Edward Jr. Moritz purchased 5,446 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 27th. The shares were bought at an average price of $91.81 per share, with a total value of $499,997.26. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 7,805 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $716,577.05. This trade represents a 230.86 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 175,177 shares of company stock worth $16,403,728 over the last ninety days. 45.58% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have weighed in on WMT shares. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Walmart from $100.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. DZ Bank downgraded shares of Walmart from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $91.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. KeyCorp upped their price objective on shares of Walmart from $96.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price objective on shares of Walmart from $98.00 to $102.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. Finally, Barclays upped their price target on shares of Walmart from $90.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 9th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $98.56.

Walmart Stock Performance

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

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, November 19th. The retailer reported $0.58 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.53 by $0.05. Walmart had a net margin of 2.92% and a return on equity of 21.78%. The company had revenue of $169.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $167.69 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.51 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts expect 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.