Walmart (NASDAQ:WMT) CEO Sells $1,399,912.50 in Stock

Walmart Inc. (NASDAQ:WMT) CEO John Furner sold 13,125 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $106.66, for a total transaction of $1,399,912.50. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 647,912 shares in the company, valued at $69,106,293.92. This represents a 1.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

Walmart Price Performance

Shares of WMT stock traded down $0.06 during trading on Friday, hitting $106.73. The company had a trading volume of 43,761,647 shares, compared to its average volume of 25,479,258. The firm has a market capitalization of $846.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 0.59. Walmart Inc. has a one year low of $98.88 and a one year high of $135.15. 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 stock’s 50-day moving average price is $109.92 and its 200 day moving average price is $118.31.

Walmart (NASDAQ:WMT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 20th. The retailer reported $0.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.74 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $187.94 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $186.64 billion. Walmart had a return on equity of 21.83% and a net margin of 3.00%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.68 EPS. Walmart has set its Q3 2027 guidance at 0.620-0.640 EPS and its FY 2027 guidance at 2.800-2.870 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Walmart Inc. will post 2.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Walmart

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Walmart by 6.8% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 103,010,709 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $11,426,753,000 after buying an additional 6,517,394 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE purchased a new stake in Walmart during the second quarter valued at approximately $7,455,131,000. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Walmart during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $6,458,529,000. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 328,229 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its stake in Walmart by 2.6% in the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 36,820,550 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $4,102,546,000 after acquiring an additional 920,969 shares in the last quarter. 26.76% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on WMT shares. Tigress Financial reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $155.00 price objective on shares of Walmart in a research note on Monday, August 31st. Gordon Haskett downgraded shares of Walmart from a “buy” rating to an “accumulate” rating in a report on Thursday, August 20th. BMO Capital Markets reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $126.00 price target on shares of Walmart in a research report on Friday, August 21st. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $125.00 price objective (down from $140.00) on shares of Walmart in a research note on Friday, August 21st. Finally, Truist Financial set a $114.00 price objective on shares of Walmart and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 21st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-two have assigned a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $131.88.

Walmart Company Profile

Walmart Inc is a multinational retail and technology company that operates supercenters, discount stores, neighborhood markets, e-commerce platforms and membership warehouse clubs. Its merchandise includes groceries, apparel, electronics, home goods, health and beauty products, general merchandise and other consumer products.

Founded by Sam Walton in 1962 and incorporated in 1969, Walmart is headquartered in Bentonville, Arkansas. The company serves customers through operations in the United States and international markets, including Mexico, Canada, China, India and several countries in Central America and Africa.