Asahi Life Asset Management CO. LTD. Lowers Holdings in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)

Asahi Life Asset Management CO. LTD. trimmed its holdings in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) by 15.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 18,679 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 3,382 shares during the quarter. Walmart comprises approximately 0.9% of Asahi Life Asset Management CO. LTD.’s portfolio, making the stock its 27th biggest position. Asahi Life Asset Management CO. LTD.’s holdings in Walmart were worth $1,508,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. Welch Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Walmart by 8.0% in the third quarter. Welch Group LLC now owns 47,529 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $3,838,000 after acquiring an additional 3,537 shares during the period. Southern Capital Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Walmart by 2.8% in the third quarter. Southern Capital Advisors LLC now owns 33,134 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $2,676,000 after purchasing an additional 905 shares during the last quarter. FCG Investment Co grew its position in Walmart by 78.4% in the 3rd quarter. FCG Investment Co now owns 32,779 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $2,647,000 after purchasing an additional 14,402 shares during the period. Kercheville Advisors LLC raised its stake in Walmart by 1.6% during the 3rd quarter. Kercheville Advisors LLC now owns 42,339 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $3,419,000 after buying an additional 670 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First American Bank lifted its holdings in shares of Walmart by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter. First American Bank now owns 176,874 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $14,283,000 after buying an additional 2,426 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 26.76% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WMT has been the subject of a number of research reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price objective on Walmart from $77.00 to $83.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 16th. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Walmart from $81.00 to $92.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 11th. TD Cowen boosted their target price on shares of Walmart from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 16th. Tigress Financial raised their target price on Walmart from $75.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Finally, Barclays lifted their target price on Walmart from $66.00 to $78.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 16th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $83.83.

Insider Buying and Selling at Walmart

In other news, EVP John D. Rainey sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.19, for a total value of $207,570.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 387,165 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,787,946.35. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, major shareholder Alice L. Walton sold 2,375,563 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $76.96, for a total transaction of $182,823,328.48. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 619,646,544 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $47,687,998,026.24. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP John D. Rainey sold 3,000 shares of Walmart stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.19, for a total transaction of $207,570.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 387,165 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,787,946.35. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 12,337,337 shares of company stock worth $958,784,857 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 45.58% of the company’s stock.

Walmart Price Performance

NYSE:WMT opened at $82.75 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $665.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.02, a PEG ratio of 4.13 and a beta of 0.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.22. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $79.27 and a 200-day simple moving average of $70.63. Walmart Inc. has a 1 year low of $49.85 and a 1 year high of $83.34.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 15th. The retailer reported $0.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.65 by $0.02. Walmart had a return on equity of 21.72% and a net margin of 2.34%. The company had revenue of $169.30 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $168.56 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.61 earnings per share. Walmart’s revenue was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Walmart Inc. will post 2.44 EPS for the current year.

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.