Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. Has $1.50 Million Stock Position in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)

Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) by 128.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 16,597 shares of the retailer’s stock after purchasing an additional 9,340 shares during the quarter. Hillsdale Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Walmart were worth $1,500,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Swedbank AB increased its holdings in shares of Walmart by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 5,345,293 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $431,632,000 after purchasing an additional 18,644 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in Walmart by 14.9% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 6,235,504 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $503,517,000 after acquiring an additional 809,352 shares during the period. Quest Partners LLC acquired a new position in Walmart in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $336,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of Walmart by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 387,540 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $31,294,000 after acquiring an additional 4,128 shares during the period. Finally, Eagle Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Walmart by 16.1% during the 3rd quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. now owns 345,418 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $29,302,000 after purchasing an additional 47,878 shares in the last quarter. 26.76% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WMT has been the subject of several research reports. Guggenheim reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $100.00 target price on shares of Walmart in a research report on Monday, February 24th. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on shares of Walmart from $93.00 to $118.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their target price on shares of Walmart from $109.00 to $107.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 21st. UBS Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of Walmart in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $115.00 price objective (up from $106.00) on shares of Walmart in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Two equities research analysts have 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. According to MarketBeat, Walmart presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $103.17.

Walmart Stock Performance

Shares of Walmart stock opened at $85.94 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $95.19 and a two-hundred day moving average of $89.04. 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 capitalization 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 52 week low of $58.56 and a 52 week high of $105.30.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The retailer reported $0.66 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.64 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $180.55 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $178.83 billion. Walmart had a return on equity of 21.87% and a net margin of 2.85%. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Walmart Inc. will post 2.55 EPS for the current year.

Walmart Dividend Announcement

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 given a $0.235 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 12th. This represents a $0.94 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.09%. Walmart’s dividend payout ratio is presently 39.00%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO C Douglas Mcmillon sold 29,124 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $92.35, for a total transaction of $2,689,601.40. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 3,785,702 shares in the company, valued at approximately $349,609,579.70. This represents a 0.76 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Kathryn J. Mclay sold 4,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.95, for a total value of $343,800.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 888,309 shares in the company, valued at $76,350,158.55. This trade represents a 0.45 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 189,777 shares of company stock worth $18,001,116 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 45.58% of the company’s stock.

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.