Walmart (NYSE:WMT) Trading Down 0.2% on Insider Selling

Shares of Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) traded down 0.2% during trading on Monday after an insider sold shares in the company. The stock traded as low as $80.40 and last traded at $80.41. 2,828,540 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 84% from the average session volume of 17,331,510 shares. The stock had previously closed at $80.60.

Specifically, major shareholder Jim C. Walton sold 934,000 shares of Walmart stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $79.46, for a total transaction of $74,215,640.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 610,843,318 shares in the company, valued at $48,537,610,048.28. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, major shareholder S Robson Walton sold 4,057,369 shares of Walmart stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.20, for a total value of $313,228,886.80. Following the sale, the insider now owns 611,988,318 shares in the company, valued at $47,245,498,149.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Walmart from $75.00 to $82.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 16th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on Walmart from $71.00 to $73.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 13th. HSBC lifted their price target on Walmart from $70.00 to $81.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 11th. Roth Mkm lifted their price objective on Walmart from $71.00 to $81.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 16th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective on Walmart from $66.00 to $78.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 16th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $78.99.

Walmart Stock Performance

The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $72.73 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $66.34. 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 company has a market cap of $647.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.49, a P/E/G ratio of 3.99 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 for the quarter, beating 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $168.56 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.61 earnings per share. Walmart’s revenue was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Walmart Inc. will post 2.44 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Walmart

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. AHL Investment Management Inc. increased its position in Walmart by 192.1% in the first quarter. AHL Investment Management Inc. now owns 24,000 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,444,000 after buying an additional 15,785 shares in the last quarter. Core Wealth Advisors Inc. increased its position in Walmart by 38.9% in the fourth quarter. Core Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 1,501 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $237,000 after buying an additional 420 shares in the last quarter. Liberty Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Walmart in the first quarter worth about $270,000. Commerce Bank increased its position in Walmart by 189.4% in the first quarter. Commerce Bank now owns 917,625 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $55,213,000 after buying an additional 600,521 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. increased its position in Walmart by 290.7% in the first quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 270,065 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $16,250,000 after buying an additional 200,947 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.