Cassia Capital Partners LLC Makes New Investment in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)

Cassia Capital Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 6,962 shares of the retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $629,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Avitas Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Walmart by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Avitas Wealth Management LLC now owns 165,088 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $14,916,000 after buying an additional 1,066 shares in the last quarter. Brown Lisle Cummings Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Walmart by 11.5% in the fourth quarter. Brown Lisle Cummings Inc. now owns 7,037 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $636,000 after buying an additional 727 shares in the last quarter. Rockline Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Walmart by 5.3% in the fourth quarter. Rockline Wealth Management LLC now owns 47,129 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $4,258,000 after buying an additional 2,369 shares in the last quarter. Tempus Wealth Planning LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Walmart by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. Tempus Wealth Planning LLC now owns 24,489 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $2,213,000 after buying an additional 428 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Flavin Financial Services Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Walmart in the fourth quarter worth about $3,539,000. Institutional investors own 26.76% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Walmart

In other news, CEO C Douglas Mcmillon sold 29,124 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 3,814,805 shares in the company, valued at approximately $348,825,769.20. The trade was a 0.76 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Robert Edward Jr. Moritz bought 5,446 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 27th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $91.81 per share, for a total transaction of $499,997.26. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 7,805 shares in the company, valued at approximately $716,577.05. This represents a 230.86 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 175,177 shares of company stock worth $16,403,728 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 45.58% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Walmart from $100.00 to $113.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of Walmart from $80.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, November 18th. Oppenheimer raised their target price on shares of Walmart from $100.00 to $110.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their target price on shares of Walmart from $98.00 to $102.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $105.00 target price on shares of Walmart in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $96.01.

Walmart Stock Performance

NYSE:WMT opened at $102.47 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $823.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.49 and a beta of 0.55. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $93.46 and its 200 day simple moving average is $83.69. Walmart Inc. has a twelve month low of $55.85 and a twelve month high of $102.58. The company has a quick ratio of 0.23, a current ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42.

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

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.