Cathy Pareto & Associates Inc. Acquires New Shares in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)

Cathy Pareto & Associates Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 2,686 shares of the retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $243,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Peterson Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Walmart in the third quarter worth about $26,000. Voisard Asset Management Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Walmart by 77.3% in the third quarter. Voisard Asset Management Group Inc. now owns 399 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 174 shares during the last quarter. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Walmart in the fourth quarter worth about $32,000. Hoese & Co LLP acquired a new position in shares of Walmart during the 3rd quarter worth about $33,000. Finally, Livelsberger Financial Advisory acquired a new position in shares of Walmart during the 3rd quarter worth about $36,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 26.76% of the company’s stock.

Walmart Stock Down 0.0 %

NYSE:WMT opened at $97.36 on Wednesday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $92.29 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $82.49. Walmart Inc. has a 52-week low of $54.51 and a 52-week high of $97.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42, a quick ratio of 0.23 and a current ratio of 0.85. The company has a market cap of $782.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.96, a P/E/G ratio of 4.42 and a beta of 0.55.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 19th. The retailer reported $0.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 firm had revenue of $169.59 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $167.69 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.51 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that Walmart Inc. will post 2.48 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. KeyCorp boosted their price objective on Walmart from $96.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on Walmart from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. Roth Mkm boosted their price objective on Walmart from $81.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on Walmart from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. Finally, Evercore ISI boosted their price target on Walmart from $94.00 to $96.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Two investment 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $94.69.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Walmart news, SVP David Chojnowski sold 5,600 shares of the company’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 transaction, the senior vice president now owns 87,404 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,993,095.80. This represents a 6.02 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP John D. Rainey sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, November 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $82.12, for a total value of $246,360.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 378,165 shares in the company, valued at approximately $31,054,909.80. This trade represents a 0.79 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 140,177 shares of company stock valued at $12,895,688. 45.58% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.