Patten Group Inc. Has $2.47 Million Stake in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)

Patten Group Inc. lowered its position in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) by 2.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 27,366 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 656 shares during the period. Patten Group Inc.’s holdings in Walmart were worth $2,473,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings 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 worth $7,048,465,000 after purchasing an additional 2,786,061 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its position in Walmart by 12.9% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 63,135,639 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $5,098,203,000 after buying an additional 7,200,004 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in Walmart by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 48,793,045 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $4,408,452,000 after acquiring an additional 1,133,201 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its position in Walmart by 3.7% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 41,501,782 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $3,392,658,000 after acquiring an additional 1,480,927 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its stake in shares of Walmart by 14.0% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 32,020,800 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $2,893,079,000 after acquiring an additional 3,927,173 shares during the last quarter. 26.76% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other Walmart news, EVP John D. Rainey sold 38,000 shares of Walmart stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $98.80, for a total value of $3,754,400.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 257,281 shares in the company, valued at approximately $25,419,362.80. The trade was a 12.87 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP John R. Furner sold 13,125 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 185,777 shares of company stock worth $17,657,316 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 45.58% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently commented on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on shares of Walmart from $89.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. DZ Bank upgraded Walmart from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $110.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. KeyCorp boosted their target price on Walmart from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Oppenheimer raised their price target on Walmart from $100.00 to $110.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $115.00 price objective (up from $106.00) on shares of Walmart in a report on Thursday, February 13th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $103.07.

Walmart Trading Down 1.1 %

Shares of NYSE:WMT opened at $97.49 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $783.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.45, a PEG ratio of 4.42 and a beta of 0.55. Walmart Inc. has a 12 month low of $58.40 and a 12 month high of $105.30. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $96.04 and its 200 day simple moving average is $87.88. 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 released its quarterly earnings results 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. The firm had revenue of $180.55 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $178.83 billion. Walmart had a return on equity of 21.87% and a net margin of 2.85%. As a group, research analysts forecast that Walmart Inc. will post 2.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Walmart Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, January 5th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 12th will be paid a dividend of $0.235 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 12th. This represents a $0.94 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.96%. 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.