Fagan Associates Inc. Acquires New Stake in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)

Fagan Associates Inc. bought a new position in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 2,269 shares of the retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $205,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. SC&H Financial Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in Walmart by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. SC&H Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 10,232 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $924,000 after purchasing an additional 103 shares during the last quarter. Scarborough Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Walmart by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. Scarborough Advisors LLC now owns 5,584 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $505,000 after acquiring an additional 109 shares during the last quarter. Dakota Community Bank & Trust NA boosted its stake in shares of Walmart by 4.0% during the 4th quarter. Dakota Community Bank & Trust NA now owns 2,879 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $260,000 after acquiring an additional 110 shares in the last quarter. Rooted Wealth Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Walmart by 2.6% in the 4th quarter. Rooted Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 4,344 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $394,000 after acquiring an additional 110 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hobart Private Capital LLC raised its position in shares of Walmart by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. Hobart Private Capital LLC now owns 6,926 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $626,000 after purchasing an additional 111 shares during the period. 26.76% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Walmart news, EVP John D. Rainey sold 38,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $98.80, for a total transaction of $3,754,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 257,281 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $25,419,362.80. The trade was a 12.87 % decrease in their position. 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 the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $91.44, for a total value of $2,663,098.56. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,814,805 shares in the company, valued at approximately $348,825,769.20. This represents a 0.76 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 175,177 shares of company stock valued at $16,403,728. Company insiders own 45.58% of the company’s stock.

Walmart Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE WMT opened at $103.90 on Thursday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $95.56 and its 200-day simple moving average is $86.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42, a quick ratio of 0.23 and a current ratio of 0.85. Walmart Inc. has a 52 week low of $57.60 and a 52 week high of $105.30. The firm has a market cap of $834.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.64, a P/E/G ratio of 4.39 and a beta of 0.55.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 19th. The retailer reported $0.58 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.53 by $0.05. Walmart had a return on equity of 21.78% and a net margin of 2.92%. The company had revenue of $169.59 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $167.69 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.51 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Walmart Inc. will post 2.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on WMT. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Walmart from $100.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. TD Cowen lifted their target price on shares of Walmart from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price target 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. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on shares of Walmart from $105.00 to $111.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, KeyCorp raised their target price on Walmart from $96.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Walmart currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $101.87.

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.