Live Oak Investment Partners Makes New Investment in Walmart Inc. $WMT

Live Oak Investment Partners acquired a new stake in Walmart Inc. (NASDAQ:WMT) in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund acquired 5,086 shares of the retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $576,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of WMT. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Walmart by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 439,957,146 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $49,015,626,000 after acquiring an additional 4,304,436 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its stake in Walmart by 1.2% in 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 period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Walmart by 6.8% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 103,010,709 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $11,426,753,000 after acquiring an additional 6,517,394 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Walmart during the 4th quarter valued at $6,458,529,000. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Walmart by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 40,626,852 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $4,526,238,000 after purchasing an additional 328,229 shares during the last quarter. 26.76% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on WMT shares. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of Walmart from $140.00 to $120.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. DA Davidson set a $132.00 price target on shares of Walmart and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. Royal Bank Of Canada lowered their price target on shares of Walmart from $137.00 to $131.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday. TD Cowen restated a “buy” rating on shares of Walmart in a research report on Friday. Finally, KeyCorp restated an “overweight” rating on shares of Walmart in a report on Wednesday, August 12th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-two have assigned a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $131.88.

Key Headlines Impacting Walmart

Here are the key news stories impacting Walmart this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Unusually heavy call-option activity may indicate increased near-term bullish interest. Investors purchased 166,747 call options, about 33% above the typical daily volume. However, options activity is speculative and does not guarantee further gains.
• Positive Sentiment: Walmart is rolling out tap-to-pay and NFC capabilities across its U.S. stores and clubs. The move could improve checkout convenience, support mobile-wallet adoption and strengthen customer engagement as digital sales and membership become more important. Can Walmart’s Tap to Pay Push Strengthen Customer Engagement?
• Positive Sentiment: The company is introducing Scenario, a mostly sub-$25 fashion brand aimed at younger shoppers. Walmart hopes the offering will attract value-conscious consumers and improve its competitive position against Amazon in apparel. Walmart Aims to Take On Amazon With Trendier Apparel
• Neutral Sentiment: Walmart’s latest quarter exceeded expectations, with adjusted earnings of $0.81 per share versus roughly $0.74 expected and revenue of $187.94 billion, up 5.9% year over year. Full-year sales guidance was also raised to 4%-5%, but the outlook implies moderating growth.
• Negative Sentiment: U.S. comparable sales growth slowed to 2.6%, compared with 4.1% in the prior quarter and 4.6% a year earlier. Investors remain concerned that cautious consumers and uneven spending are pressuring traffic and discretionary purchases.
• Negative Sentiment: Several analysts reduced Walmart’s price targets or issued more cautious forecasts after the earnings report. Critics also argue that the stock remains expensive at roughly 36 times forward earnings despite decelerating growth, limiting upside.

Insider Activity

In other Walmart news, EVP Christopher James Nicholas sold 2,900 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $106.34, for a total transaction of $308,386.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 569,153 shares in the company, valued at $60,523,730.02. This trade represents a 0.51% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, EVP Latriece Watkins sold 11,000 shares of Walmart stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $118.97, for a total value of $1,308,670.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 120,203 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,300,550.91. This represents a 8.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 57,064 shares of company stock worth $6,697,788. Insiders own 0.09% of the company’s stock.

Walmart Trading Up 2.7%

Shares of Walmart stock opened at $106.49 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a quick ratio of 0.23 and a current ratio of 0.77. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $113.06 and a 200-day moving average of $121.09. Walmart Inc. has a 52-week low of $95.42 and a 52-week high of $135.15. The stock has a market cap of $847.46 billion, a PE ratio of 38.44, a PEG ratio of 3.91 and a beta of 0.61.

Walmart (NASDAQ:WMT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 20th. The retailer reported $0.81 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74 by $0.07. Walmart had a net margin of 3.00% and a return on equity of 21.83%. The business had revenue of $187.94 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $186.64 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.68 earnings per share. Walmart’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Walmart has set its Q3 2027 guidance at 0.620-0.640 EPS and its FY 2027 guidance at 2.800-2.870 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Walmart Inc. will post 2.86 EPS for the current year.

Walmart Company Profile

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.