Ipswich Investment Management Co. Inc. Makes New $204,000 Investment in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)

Ipswich Investment Management Co. Inc. bought a new position in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 2,259 shares of the retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $204,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Walmart by 3.3% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 87,617,409 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $7,048,465,000 after purchasing an additional 2,786,061 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its position in shares of Walmart by 12.9% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 63,135,639 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $5,098,203,000 after buying an additional 7,200,004 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Walmart by 4.6% during 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 buying an additional 2,107,197 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its position in shares of Walmart by 3.7% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 41,501,782 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $3,392,658,000 after buying an additional 1,480,927 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Walmart by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 31,236,769 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $2,522,369,000 after buying an additional 350,881 shares in the last quarter. 26.76% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Walmart

In related news, SVP David Chojnowski sold 5,600 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $91.45, for a total transaction of $512,120.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 87,404 shares in the company, valued at $7,993,095.80. The trade was a 6.02 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Daniel J. Bartlett sold 1,600 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $103.99, for a total value of $166,384.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 423,597 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $44,049,852.03. The trade was a 0.38 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 176,777 shares of company stock worth $16,570,112 in the last quarter. 45.58% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on WMT shares. StockNews.com cut Walmart from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. DZ Bank cut Walmart from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $91.00 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price objective on Walmart from $109.00 to $107.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. Tigress Financial lifted their price objective on Walmart from $86.00 to $115.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, UBS Group lowered their price objective on Walmart from $113.00 to $112.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. Two 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.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $102.43.

Walmart Price Performance

Shares of Walmart stock opened at $94.70 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $95.63 and a 200-day moving average price of $86.44. Walmart Inc. has a one year low of $57.77 and a one year high of $105.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40, a quick ratio of 0.23 and a current ratio of 0.82. The stock has a market cap of $760.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.42 and a beta of 0.55.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last posted 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. Walmart had a return on equity of 21.87% and a net margin of 2.85%. The company had revenue of $180.55 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $178.83 billion. Equities analysts expect that Walmart Inc. will post 2.55 EPS for the current year.

Walmart Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, January 5th. Investors of record on Friday, December 12th will be issued a dividend of $0.235 per share. This represents a $0.94 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.99%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 12th. Walmart’s payout ratio is currently 34.44%.

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.