Crowley Wealth Management Inc. Purchases Shares of 3,604 Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)

Crowley Wealth Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 3,604 shares of the retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $326,000.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Walmart by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 422,736,888 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $38,194,278,000 after acquiring an additional 2,050,683 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Walmart by 3.3% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 87,617,409 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $7,048,465,000 after buying an additional 2,786,061 shares during the period. FMR LLC increased its stake in Walmart by 12.9% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 63,135,639 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $5,098,203,000 after purchasing an additional 7,200,004 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Walmart by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 48,793,045 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $4,408,452,000 after buying an additional 1,133,201 shares during the period. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. raised its stake in shares of Walmart by 3.7% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 41,501,782 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $3,392,658,000 after acquiring an additional 1,480,927 shares in the last quarter. 26.76% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Walmart

In other news, EVP Kathryn J. Mclay sold 4,000 shares of Walmart stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.95, for a total transaction of $343,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 888,309 shares in the company, valued at $76,350,158.55. The trade was a 0.45 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO C Douglas Mcmillon sold 29,124 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $92.35, for a total transaction of $2,689,601.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 3,785,702 shares in the company, valued at $349,609,579.70. This represents a 0.76 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 189,777 shares of company stock valued at $18,001,116. 45.58% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Walmart Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of Walmart stock opened at $85.94 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $688.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.66, a PEG ratio of 4.42 and a beta of 0.53. Walmart Inc. has a 1 year low of $58.56 and a 1 year high of $105.30. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $95.19 and its 200-day simple moving average is $89.04. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 20th. The retailer reported $0.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.64 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $180.55 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $178.83 billion. Walmart had a return on equity of 21.87% and a net margin of 2.85%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Walmart Inc. will post 2.55 EPS for the current year.

Walmart Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, January 5th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 12th will be issued a $0.235 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 12th. This represents a $0.94 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.09%. Walmart’s payout ratio is presently 39.00%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently commented on WMT shares. Oppenheimer increased their target price on Walmart from $100.00 to $110.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their target price on shares of Walmart from $99.00 to $93.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. KeyCorp boosted their price objective on shares of Walmart from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Walmart from $97.00 to $112.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Erste Group Bank lowered shares of Walmart from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $103.17.

About Walmart

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.