Cadence Bank Purchases 223,040 Shares of Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)

Cadence Bank boosted its holdings in shares of Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) by 200.3% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 334,398 shares of the retailer’s stock after buying an additional 223,040 shares during the period. Walmart makes up about 1.5% of Cadence Bank’s holdings, making the stock its 14th largest holding. Cadence Bank’s holdings in Walmart were worth $20,121,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Walmart by 199.4% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 411,745,334 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $24,774,717,000 after purchasing an additional 274,229,968 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Walmart during the 4th quarter valued at $3,674,652,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its holdings in Walmart by 183.0% during the 1st quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 29,172,985 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,755,339,000 after acquiring an additional 18,865,484 shares during the period. Raymond James & Associates lifted its position in Walmart by 212.6% in the first quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 14,035,473 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $844,514,000 after purchasing an additional 9,544,958 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Swiss National Bank grew its holdings in shares of Walmart by 187.4% in the first quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 13,303,200 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $800,454,000 after purchasing an additional 8,674,100 shares during the last quarter. 26.76% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Tigress Financial increased their price target on shares of Walmart from $75.00 to $86.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on Walmart from $69.00 to $71.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 2nd. Bank of America increased their price objective on Walmart from $67.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 17th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their target price on Walmart from $71.00 to $77.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, July 1st. Finally, TD Cowen raised their target price on shares of Walmart from $68.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 17th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-seven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $71.60.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP John D. Rainey sold 3,000 shares of Walmart stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.08, for a total value of $177,240.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 521,613 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $30,816,896.04. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other Walmart news, major shareholder Alice L. Walton sold 3,633,800 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $66.80, for a total transaction of $242,737,840.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 636,898,811 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $42,544,840,574.80. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP John D. Rainey sold 3,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.08, for a total value of $177,240.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 521,613 shares in the company, valued at $30,816,896.04. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 14,540,863 shares of company stock worth $954,424,817. 45.58% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Walmart Stock Performance

Shares of WMT traded down $0.23 on Friday, reaching $69.79. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 16,787,927 shares, compared to its average volume of 17,377,965. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $67.71 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $61.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.23. The stock has a market capitalization of $561.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.69, a PEG ratio of 4.07 and a beta of 0.50. Walmart Inc. has a 12-month low of $49.85 and a 12-month high of $71.33.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 16th. The retailer reported $0.60 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.52 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $161.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $159.57 billion. Walmart had a return on equity of 21.57% and a net margin of 2.88%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 6.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.49 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Walmart Inc. will post 2.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.