Walmart (NASDAQ:WMT) Stock Price Down 1.3% – Here’s What Happened

Walmart Inc. (NASDAQ:WMT) fell 1.3% during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as low as $113.56 and last traded at $113.06. 26,144,402 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 25% from the average session volume of 20,901,174 shares. The stock had previously closed at $114.60.

Key Stories Impacting Walmart

Here are the key news stories impacting Walmart this week:

• Positive Sentiment: BTIG Research reaffirmed its Buy rating on Walmart and raised its price target to $145, implying meaningful upside and reinforcing the view that the company’s scale and execution remain strong. BTIG Research reaffirms Buy on Walmart
• Positive Sentiment: Tigress Financial also lifted its price target on Walmart to $155, citing the retailer’s AI-driven platform shift and digital expansion, which suggests analysts still see Walmart as a long-term growth story. Tigress Financial raises Walmart price target
• Neutral Sentiment: Several articles compared Walmart with Target and highlighted Walmart’s defensive profile, strong scale, and upper-income customer gains. These pieces are more supportive of the investment case than directly market-moving. Walmart vs. Target long-term hold
• Neutral Sentiment: Walmart-backed OnePay is expanding beyond the retailer’s ecosystem, which could broaden the fintech business over time, but the impact on WMT shares is indirect for now. OnePay expansion
• Negative Sentiment: A class action lawsuit over Walmart’s Massachusetts hiring practices adds legal and compliance risk, with allegations that the company improperly requires criminal history disclosure and honesty tests. Walmart hiring practices lawsuit
• Negative Sentiment: Another lawsuit tied to allegedly contaminated SpaghettiOs sold at Walmart raises product-liability concerns, which could weigh on investor sentiment even if the case is isolated. SpaghettiOs lawsuit
• Negative Sentiment: Amazon overtaking Walmart for the top spot in the Fortune 500 is a symbolic setback, underscoring Amazon’s faster revenue growth and intensifying competition in retail. Amazon overtakes Walmart in Fortune 500

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Raymond James Financial reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $135.00 price objective on shares of Walmart in a research report on Friday, March 6th. Sanford C. Bernstein reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $145.00 target price on shares of Walmart in a research report on Tuesday, May 12th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Walmart in a research note on Monday, April 20th. KeyCorp reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of Walmart in a report on Friday, May 22nd. Finally, Guggenheim raised their price objective on Walmart from $120.00 to $137.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 13th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-one have assigned a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $138.85.

Walmart Stock Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $930.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.01, a PEG ratio of 4.22 and a beta of 0.59. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $125.79 and a 200-day simple moving average of $120.98. The company has a quick ratio of 0.23, a current ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42.

Walmart (NASDAQ:WMT) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 21st. The retailer reported $0.66 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.66. The business had revenue of $177.75 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $174.84 billion. Walmart had a net margin of 3.13% and a return on equity of 21.25%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 7.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.61 EPS. Walmart has set its FY 2027 guidance at 2.750-2.850 EPS and its Q2 2027 guidance at 0.720-0.740 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Walmart Inc. will post 2.89 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director C Douglas Mcmillon sold 19,416 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $118.63, for a total transaction of $2,303,320.08. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 4,174,579 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $495,230,306.77. This trade represents a 0.46% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, EVP Daniel J. Bartlett sold 1,250 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $133.77, for a total transaction of $167,212.50. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 635,593 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $85,023,275.61. The trade was a 0.20% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last three months, insiders sold 117,008 shares of company stock valued at $14,492,704. Corporate insiders own 0.09% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Walmart

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of WMT. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Walmart by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 439,957,146 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $49,015,626,000 after buying an additional 4,304,436 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its holdings in Walmart by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 184,805,978 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $19,046,104,000 after acquiring an additional 2,242,364 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position 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 in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Walmart in the fourth quarter worth about $6,458,529,000. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its stake 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 worth $4,526,238,000 after acquiring an additional 328,229 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 26.76% of the company’s stock.

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.