Americana Partners LLC Acquires 349,739 Shares of Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)

Americana Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) by 1,890.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 368,238 shares of the retailer’s stock after acquiring an additional 349,739 shares during the quarter. Walmart makes up approximately 1.4% of Americana Partners LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 15th largest holding. Americana Partners LLC’s holdings in Walmart were worth $33,270,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Creative Planning raised its position in shares of Walmart by 4.9% in the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 1,800,743 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $142,973,000 after purchasing an additional 83,376 shares during the period. Swedbank AB raised its position in shares of Walmart by 0.4% in the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 5,345,293 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $431,632,000 after purchasing an additional 18,644 shares during the period. KMG Fiduciary Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Walmart by 3.3% in the third quarter. KMG Fiduciary Partners LLC now owns 19,235 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,553,000 after purchasing an additional 609 shares during the period. Alta Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Walmart by 10.1% in the third quarter. Alta Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 14,602 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,179,000 after purchasing an additional 1,339 shares during the period. Finally, AA Financial Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Walmart by 13.8% in the third quarter. AA Financial Advisors LLC now owns 11,833 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $956,000 after purchasing an additional 1,433 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 26.76% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently commented on WMT. Truist Financial lifted their price target on shares of Walmart from $98.00 to $111.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on shares of Walmart from $105.00 to $111.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $115.00 price objective (up previously from $106.00) on shares of Walmart in a research note on Thursday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Walmart from $97.00 to $112.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Piper Sandler raised their price objective on shares of Walmart from $83.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, November 18th. Two equities research 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. According to data from MarketBeat, Walmart has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $100.53.

Insider Activity at Walmart

In other news, Director Robert Edward Jr. Moritz acquired 5,446 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 27th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $91.81 per share, with a total value of $499,997.26. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 7,805 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $716,577.05. This trade represents a 230.86 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP John D. Rainey sold 38,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $98.80, for a total value of $3,754,400.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 257,281 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $25,419,362.80. This represents a 12.87 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 175,177 shares of company stock valued at $16,403,728 over the last ninety days. 45.58% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Walmart Stock Performance

Walmart stock opened at $104.04 on Monday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $94.99 and a 200 day simple moving average of $85.44. The company has a quick ratio of 0.23, a current ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42. Walmart Inc. has a 12-month low of $55.99 and a 12-month high of $105.30. The stock has a market capitalization of $835.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.70, a P/E/G ratio of 4.25 and a beta of 0.55.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last released its quarterly 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. Walmart had a return on equity of 21.78% and a net margin of 2.92%. The business had revenue of $169.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $167.69 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.51 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts anticipate that Walmart Inc. will post 2.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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.