Centricity Wealth Management LLC Acquires New Position in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)

Centricity Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor bought 4,449 shares of the retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $402,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of WMT. Brophy Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Walmart in the third quarter worth approximately $2,072,000. Bank of New Hampshire raised its stake in Walmart by 13.7% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New Hampshire now owns 47,949 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $4,332,000 after purchasing an additional 5,786 shares during the period. Iowa State Bank raised its stake in Walmart by 213.8% during the fourth quarter. Iowa State Bank now owns 26,807 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $2,422,000 after purchasing an additional 18,263 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Walmart by 4.6% in the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 47,659,844 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $3,848,533,000 after purchasing an additional 2,107,197 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Virtu Financial LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Walmart during the 3rd quarter valued at $541,000. 26.76% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Walmart Trading Down 6.5 %

NYSE WMT opened at $97.22 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $781.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.40 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 Inc. has a 12 month low of $57.60 and a 12 month high of $105.30. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $95.62 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $86.25.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The retailer reported $0.66 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.64 by $0.02. Walmart had a net margin of 2.92% and a return on equity of 21.78%. As a group, research analysts predict that Walmart Inc. will post 2.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Walmart Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 21st will be given a $0.235 dividend. This is a positive change from Walmart’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. This represents a $0.94 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.97%. Walmart’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 34.06%.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP John D. Rainey sold 38,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 257,281 shares in the company, valued at approximately $25,419,362.80. This trade represents a 12.87 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO C Douglas Mcmillon sold 29,124 shares of Walmart stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $91.44, for a total transaction of $2,663,098.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,814,805 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $348,825,769.20. This trade represents a 0.76 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 176,777 shares of company stock worth $16,570,112. 45.58% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on WMT. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on Walmart from $80.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, November 18th. Roth Mkm lifted their price objective on Walmart from $81.00 to $97.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their target price 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. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Walmart from $98.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Walmart from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and one has assigned 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 $101.87.

Walmart Company 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.