Machina Capital S.A.S. Makes New Investment in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)

Machina Capital S.A.S. acquired a new position in shares of Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor acquired 3,746 shares of the retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $338,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Walmart in the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Walmart in the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. Peterson Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Walmart in the 3rd quarter valued at $26,000. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Walmart in the 4th quarter valued at $32,000. Finally, Noble Wealth Management PBC acquired a new position in shares of Walmart in the 4th quarter valued at $37,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 26.76% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Walmart

In related news, CEO C Douglas Mcmillon sold 29,124 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $96.95, for a total value of $2,823,571.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 3,558,247 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $344,972,046.65. The trade was a 0.81 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Christopher James Nicholas sold 17,600 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $94.42, for a total transaction of $1,661,792.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 348,357 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $32,891,867.94. The trade was a 4.81 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 185,777 shares of company stock valued at $17,657,316 in the last 90 days. 45.58% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Bank of America lifted their target price on shares of Walmart from $95.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on shares of Walmart from $105.00 to $111.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on shares of Walmart from $89.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on shares of Walmart from $80.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their price objective on shares of Walmart from $98.00 to $102.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. One investment 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. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $103.07.

Walmart Trading Down 3.1 %

NYSE:WMT opened at $91.68 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $736.46 billion, a PE ratio of 38.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.42 and a beta of 0.53. 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 Inc. has a 52-week low of $58.56 and a 52-week high of $105.30. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $96.19 and a 200-day simple moving average of $88.44.

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, topping the consensus estimate of $0.64 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $180.55 billion during 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%. On average, equities research analysts expect that Walmart Inc. will post 2.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Walmart Dividend Announcement

The company 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. This represents a $0.94 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.03%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 12th. Walmart’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.