8,520 Shares in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) Acquired by Petra Financial Advisors Inc.

Petra Financial Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor bought 8,520 shares of the retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $770,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in Walmart in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,306,627,000. Jennison Associates LLC grew its position in Walmart by 479.6% in the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 18,479,259 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,492,200,000 after acquiring an additional 15,290,936 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its position in Walmart by 12.9% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 63,135,639 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $5,098,203,000 after acquiring an additional 7,200,004 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its position in 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 valued at $2,893,079,000 after acquiring an additional 3,927,173 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Walmart by 3.3% in 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 acquiring an additional 2,786,061 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 26.76% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have issued reports on WMT shares. Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of Walmart from $95.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. DZ Bank upgraded Walmart from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $110.00 target price for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. StockNews.com cut Walmart from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. TD Cowen increased their target price on Walmart from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. Finally, KeyCorp increased their target price on Walmart from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Walmart presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $103.20.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP John R. Furner sold 13,125 shares of Walmart stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $96.15, for a total transaction of $1,261,968.75. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 460,672 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $44,293,612.80. The trade was a 2.77 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO C Douglas Mcmillon sold 29,124 shares of Walmart stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $92.35, for a total value of $2,689,601.40. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,785,702 shares in the company, valued at approximately $349,609,579.70. The trade was a 0.76 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 185,777 shares of company stock valued at $17,657,316. Company insiders own 45.58% of the company’s stock.

Walmart Price Performance

Shares of NYSE WMT opened at $87.54 on Tuesday. Walmart Inc. has a 1-year low of $58.56 and a 1-year high of $105.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.23. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $95.67 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $88.88. The firm has a market capitalization of $703.21 billion, a PE ratio of 36.32, a P/E/G ratio of 4.42 and a beta of 0.53.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last issued its quarterly 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. The company had revenue of $180.55 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $178.83 billion. Walmart had a return on equity of 21.87% and a net margin of 2.85%. On average, research analysts expect that Walmart Inc. will post 2.55 EPS for the current year.

Walmart Dividend Announcement

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 issued a dividend of $0.235 per share. This represents a $0.94 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.07%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 12th. Walmart’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.