Walmart (NYSE:WMT) Shares Down 0% Following Insider Selling

Shares of Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) fell 0% during trading on Friday after an insider sold shares in the company. The company traded as low as $82.52 and last traded at $83.01. 2,044,142 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 88% from the average session volume of 16,955,697 shares. The stock had previously closed at $83.04.

Specifically, EVP John R. Furner sold 13,125 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $82.96, for a total value of $1,088,850.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 593,040 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $49,198,598.40. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO C Douglas Mcmillon sold 29,124 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $82.79, for a total value of $2,411,175.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,843,929 shares in the company, valued at $318,238,881.91. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on WMT shares. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on Walmart from $82.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Guggenheim upped their price objective on Walmart from $75.00 to $81.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 16th. Citigroup upped their price objective on Walmart from $75.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Walmart from $75.00 to $82.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 16th. Finally, DA Davidson upped their price objective on Walmart from $75.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 16th. One 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. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $83.51.

Walmart Stock Down 0.6 %

The company’s 50 day moving average price is $79.09 and its 200 day moving average price is $70.40. The company has a quick ratio of 0.22, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46. The firm has a market capitalization of $663.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.26, a P/E/G ratio of 4.11 and a beta of 0.51.

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of 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 in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its stake in shares of Walmart by 181.0% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 56,861,234 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $3,421,342,000 after purchasing an additional 36,625,314 shares in the last quarter. Swiss National Bank increased its stake in shares of Walmart by 187.4% during 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 in the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board grew its stake in Walmart by 284.0% during the 1st quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 11,122,273 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $669,227,000 after acquiring an additional 8,225,552 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. grew its stake in Walmart by 184.1% during the 1st quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 12,567,533 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $756,188,000 after acquiring an additional 8,144,393 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 26.76% of the company’s stock.

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.