Mascoma Wealth Management LLC Raises Stock Holdings in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)

Mascoma Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) by 138.8% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 745 shares of the retailer’s stock after buying an additional 433 shares during the quarter. Mascoma Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Walmart were worth $67,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Swedbank AB grew its stake in Walmart by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 5,345,293 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $431,632,000 after acquiring an additional 18,644 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Walmart by 14.9% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 6,235,504 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $503,517,000 after purchasing an additional 809,352 shares during the period. Versor Investments LP acquired a new stake in shares of Walmart during the third quarter worth $231,000. Harbour Investments Inc. grew its position in shares of Walmart by 6.5% in the third quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. now owns 52,709 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $4,256,000 after purchasing an additional 3,196 shares during the period. Finally, Empower Advisory Group LLC increased its stake in Walmart by 1.8% in the third quarter. Empower Advisory Group LLC now owns 2,966,753 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $239,565,000 after purchasing an additional 52,897 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 26.76% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WMT has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Truist Financial raised their price target on Walmart from $98.00 to $111.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. DZ Bank upgraded shares of Walmart from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $110.00 target price for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. Citigroup reaffirmed a “positive” rating on shares of Walmart in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price objective on shares of Walmart from $109.00 to $107.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Finally, UBS Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of Walmart in a report on Friday, February 28th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $103.20.

Walmart Stock Performance

Shares of WMT stock opened at $85.07 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.23. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $95.96 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $88.59. The firm has a market capitalization of $683.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.30, a P/E/G ratio of 4.42 and a beta of 0.53. Walmart Inc. has a 12 month low of $58.56 and a 12 month high of $105.30.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The retailer reported $0.66 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.64 by $0.02. Walmart had a return on equity of 21.87% and a net margin of 2.85%. The business had revenue of $180.55 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $178.83 billion. On average, research analysts anticipate that Walmart Inc. will post 2.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Walmart Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, January 5th. Investors of record on Friday, December 12th will be paid a $0.235 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 12th. This represents a $0.94 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.10%. Walmart’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 39.00%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO C Douglas Mcmillon sold 29,124 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $92.35, for a total value of $2,689,601.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 3,785,702 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $349,609,579.70. The trade was a 0.76 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP John R. Furner sold 13,125 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $92.60, for a total transaction of $1,215,375.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 566,794 shares in the company, valued at approximately $52,485,124.40. This trade represents a 2.26 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 185,777 shares of company stock worth $17,657,316. Insiders own 45.58% of the company’s stock.

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.