North Forty Two & Co. Acquires Shares of 2,606 Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)

North Forty Two & Co. acquired a new stake in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor acquired 2,606 shares of the retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $235,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of WMT. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Walmart by 3.3% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 87,617,409 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $7,048,465,000 after buying an additional 2,786,061 shares during the period. FMR LLC increased its position in shares of Walmart by 12.9% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 63,135,639 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $5,098,203,000 after buying an additional 7,200,004 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of Walmart by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 48,793,045 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $4,408,452,000 after buying an additional 1,133,201 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its position in shares of Walmart by 3.7% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 41,501,782 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $3,392,658,000 after buying an additional 1,480,927 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its position in shares of Walmart by 14.0% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 32,020,800 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $2,893,079,000 after buying an additional 3,927,173 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 26.76% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WMT has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on shares of Walmart from $100.00 to $115.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on shares of Walmart from $109.00 to $107.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Barclays reissued an “overweight” rating on shares of Walmart in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of Walmart from $95.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on shares of Walmart from $89.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Walmart presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $103.20.

Insider Buying and Selling at Walmart

In other Walmart news, EVP John R. Furner sold 13,125 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $92.60, for a total transaction of $1,215,375.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 566,794 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $52,485,124.40. This represents a 2.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Daniel J. Bartlett sold 1,600 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $103.99, for a total transaction of $166,384.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 423,597 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $44,049,852.03. This trade represents a 0.38 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 185,777 shares of company stock valued at $17,657,316. Insiders own 45.58% of the company’s stock.

Walmart Stock Down 2.2 %

Shares of Walmart stock opened at $85.53 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $687.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.42 and a beta of 0.53. The company’s 50 day moving average is $95.56 and its 200 day moving average is $88.93. Walmart Inc. has a twelve month low of $58.56 and a twelve month high of $105.30. The company has a quick ratio of 0.23, a current ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The retailer reported $0.66 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 analysts’ expectations of $178.83 billion. Research analysts anticipate that Walmart Inc. will post 2.55 EPS for the current year.

Walmart Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced 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. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 12th. This represents a $0.94 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.10%. Walmart’s dividend 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.