Walmart (NASDAQ:WMT) Trading Down 1.5% – Here’s What Happened

Walmart Inc. (NASDAQ:WMT) shares fell 1.5% on Tuesday . The company traded as low as $110.70 and last traded at $110.90. 20,267,348 shares traded hands during trading, an increase of 8% from the average session volume of 18,819,354 shares. The stock had previously closed at $112.60.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WMT has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Telsey Advisory Group restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $135.00 price objective on shares of Walmart in a report on Wednesday, December 17th. Tigress Financial increased their target price on Walmart from $125.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 3rd. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $125.00 target price (up previously from $115.00) on shares of Walmart in a research note on Friday, November 21st. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on Walmart from $110.00 to $125.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 21st. Finally, KeyCorp reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $120.00 price objective (up previously from $110.00) on shares of Walmart in a report on Friday, November 21st. Thirty-one equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $120.54.

Walmart Stock Down 1.5%

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.24. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $107.82 and a 200-day simple moving average of $102.20. The firm has a market cap of $883.89 billion, a PE ratio of 38.78, a PEG ratio of 5.28 and a beta of 0.64.

Walmart (NASDAQ:WMT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 20th. The retailer reported $0.62 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.60 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $179.50 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $175.15 billion. Walmart had a return on equity of 21.31% and a net margin of 3.26%.The company’s revenue was up 5.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.58 earnings per share. Walmart has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.580-2.630 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Walmart Inc. will post 2.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP John R. Furner sold 13,125 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $107.78, for a total value of $1,414,612.50. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 892,940 shares in the company, valued at approximately $96,241,073.20. This represents a 1.45% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Kathryn J. Mclay sold 4,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $101.63, for a total transaction of $406,520.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 1,040,455 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $105,741,441.65. This trade represents a 0.38% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 127,828 shares of company stock valued at $13,745,625 over the last ninety days. 0.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Walmart by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 435,652,710 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $44,898,368,000 after buying an additional 3,835,200 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Walmart by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 184,805,978 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $19,046,104,000 after acquiring an additional 2,242,364 shares during the last quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC grew its stake in shares of Walmart by 397,264.9% in the second quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC now owns 104,514,912 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $10,496,702,000 after acquiring an additional 104,488,610 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Walmart by 0.3% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 94,557,532 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $9,199,712,000 after acquiring an additional 263,718 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Walmart during the second quarter valued at approximately $5,367,770,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 26.76% of the company’s stock.

About Walmart

Walmart is a multinational retail corporation that operates a broad portfolio of store formats and digital services. Its core business includes large-format supercenters, discount department stores, neighborhood grocery stores and a membership warehouse chain, Sam’s Club. The company’s merchandising mix covers groceries, household goods, apparel, electronics and pharmacy services, supplemented by private-label products and category-specific offerings. Walmart pairs its physical store network with online platforms and mobile applications to provide omnichannel shopping, fulfillment and delivery options for consumers and businesses.

The company was founded by Sam Walton, who opened the first store in Rogers, Arkansas in 1962; it is headquartered in Bentonville, Arkansas.