Hancock Whitney Corp Trims Stock Position in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)

Hancock Whitney Corp decreased its position in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) by 0.6% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 155,633 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 867 shares during the period. Hancock Whitney Corp’s holdings in Walmart were worth $12,567,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Walmart by 4.6% in the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 47,659,844 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $3,848,533,000 after buying an additional 2,107,197 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its stake in Walmart by 1.8% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 36,282,740 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $2,456,704,000 after acquiring an additional 644,353 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in Walmart by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 31,236,769 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $2,522,369,000 after acquiring an additional 350,881 shares in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC increased its position in Walmart by 479.6% during the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 18,479,259 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,492,200,000 after purchasing an additional 15,290,936 shares during the period. Finally, Raymond James & Associates raised its holdings in shares of Walmart by 3.0% in the 3rd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 16,766,325 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,353,881,000 after purchasing an additional 484,196 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 26.76% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on WMT shares. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Walmart from $92.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on Walmart from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 15th. KeyCorp boosted their price target on Walmart from $88.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Walmart from $81.00 to $83.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 16th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of Walmart from $80.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, November 18th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $91.88.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO C Douglas Mcmillon sold 29,124 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.64, for a total value of $2,348,559.36. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,873,053 shares in the company, valued at $312,322,993.92. The trade was a 0.75 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Alice L. Walton sold 2,709,163 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.37, for a total transaction of $209,607,941.31. Following the sale, the insider now owns 630,501,148 shares in the company, valued at approximately $48,781,873,820.76. This represents a 0.43 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 12,337,337 shares of company stock valued at $958,823,647 in the last quarter. 45.58% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Walmart Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE WMT opened at $90.89 on Monday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $82.12 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $73.94. The stock has a market cap of $730.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.12, a PEG ratio of 4.29 and a beta of 0.51. The company has a current ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 0.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56. Walmart Inc. has a 12 month low of $49.85 and a 12 month high of $90.91.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, November 19th. The retailer reported $0.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $169.59 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $167.69 billion. Walmart had a net margin of 2.92% and a return on equity of 21.78%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.51 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Walmart Inc. will post 2.47 earnings per share for the current year.

Walmart 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.