Walmart Sees Unusually High Options Volume (NASDAQ:WMT)

Walmart Inc. (NASDAQ:WMT) was the recipient of unusually large options trading activity on Thursday. Traders bought 169,565 call options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 42% compared to the typical volume of 119,426 call options.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on WMT shares. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $145.00 target price on Walmart in a report on Friday, February 20th. HSBC lowered Walmart from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $122.00 to $131.00 in a research note on Friday, February 20th. Tigress Financial set a $150.00 price objective on shares of Walmart and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 25th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Walmart in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. Finally, Barclays restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $125.00 price target (up from $108.00) on shares of Walmart in a research report on Thursday, January 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty have issued a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $135.76.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Latriece Watkins sold 10,000 shares of Walmart stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $121.46, for a total transaction of $1,214,600.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 108,294 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,153,389.24. The trade was a 8.45% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP John D. Rainey sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $127.79, for a total transaction of $2,555,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 486,764 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $62,203,571.56. The trade was a 3.95% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 265,153 shares of company stock worth $32,465,924 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Walmart

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of WMT. Collier Financial acquired a new stake in Walmart in the third quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Entrust Financial LLC bought a new position in shares of Walmart in the 4th quarter worth $27,000. Your Advocates Ltd. LLP acquired a new stake in Walmart in the 3rd quarter valued at $28,000. Redmont Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Walmart during the 3rd quarter valued at $30,000. Finally, Beacon Financial Strategies CORP acquired a new position in Walmart during the fourth quarter worth $30,000. 26.76% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

More Walmart News

Here are the key news stories impacting Walmart this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Analysts point to Walmart as a compelling AI play — the company is deploying AI across supply chain and operations, which could improve margins and long?term profitability. Forget Chipmakers: Walmart and Target Are the Real AI Plays
• Positive Sentiment: Walmart secured U.S. machine?learning patents for dynamic pricing systems — strengthens IP position and could support smarter, faster pricing and margin management. Walmart Secures Machine Learning Patents for Pricing Items
• Positive Sentiment: Third?party ecosystem growth: Doba announced a verified technical integration with Walmart Marketplace, which could broaden seller participation and product selection on Walmart.com. Doba Announces Verified Technical Integration with Walmart Marketplace to Empower Dropshipping Sellers
• Positive Sentiment: Bullish investor coverage: A retail investor pick list highlights Walmart’s faster?growing e?commerce and advertising segments as reasons to accumulate shares for 2026. 1 Stock I Plan to Load Up On in 2026
• Neutral Sentiment: PhonePe IPO pause: Walmart?backed PhonePe has delayed IPO plans amid market volatility tied to the Middle East conflict — this affects valuation timing for Walmart’s fintech exposure but is not a direct operational issue for Walmart’s core business. Walmart-backed PhonePe pauses IPO plans as Middle East conflict fuels market volatility
• Negative Sentiment: Shareholder litigation/governance risk: A law firm announced an investigation into Walmart’s board for potential breach of fiduciary duty over alleged deceptive pay practices for Spark drivers — this raises legal, reputational and oversight concerns that can pressure the stock. Berger Montague PC Investigates Walmart Inc.’s Board of Directors for Breach of Fiduciary Duty (NASDAQ: WMT)
• Neutral Sentiment: CEO transition coverage: Commentary on how to play CEO transitions flags both risk and opportunity — any leadership change could inject short?term volatility even if long?term fundamentals remain intact. How to Play 3 Major CEO Transitions in Early 2026 (WMT)

Walmart Trading Down 0.7%

Shares of WMT stock traded down $0.88 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $121.10. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 11,760,861 shares, compared to its average volume of 32,328,863. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $123.83 and its 200-day simple moving average is $112.53. Walmart has a 52 week low of $79.81 and a 52 week high of $134.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a quick ratio of 0.24 and a current ratio of 0.79. The company has a market cap of $965.44 billion, a PE ratio of 44.23, a P/E/G ratio of 4.66 and a beta of 0.66.

Walmart (NASDAQ:WMT) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 19th. The retailer reported $0.74 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.73 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $190.66 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $188.37 billion. Walmart had a return on equity of 21.44% and a net margin of 3.07%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.66 EPS. Walmart has set its FY 2027 guidance at 2.750-2.850 EPS and its Q1 2027 guidance at 0.610-0.610 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Walmart will post 2.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Walmart Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, January 4th. Investors of record on Friday, December 11th will be paid a dividend of $0.2475 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 11th. This represents a $0.99 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.8%. Walmart’s dividend payout ratio is currently 34.31%.

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.