Walmart Inc. $WMT Shares Sold by Rathbones Group PLC

Rathbones Group PLC cut its stake in Walmart Inc. (NASDAQ:WMT) by 28.8% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 986,787 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 399,718 shares during the quarter. Rathbones Group PLC’s holdings in Walmart were worth $122,638,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its holdings in Walmart by 28.8% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 98,150 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $8,868,000 after acquiring an additional 21,939 shares during the period. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Walmart by 5.8% during the fourth quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 8,849 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $800,000 after purchasing an additional 485 shares during the period. Peterson Wealth Management raised its stake in shares of Walmart by 3.5% during the first quarter. Peterson Wealth Management now owns 50,307 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $4,416,000 after purchasing an additional 1,715 shares during the period. Sivia Capital Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Walmart by 0.9% during the second quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 13,008 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,272,000 after purchasing an additional 116 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Schnieders Capital Management LLC. lifted its position in shares of Walmart by 1.2% during the second quarter. Schnieders Capital Management LLC. now owns 91,341 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $8,931,000 after purchasing an additional 1,048 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 26.76% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Christopher James Nicholas sold 2,900 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $118.19, for a total transaction of $342,751.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 574,953 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $67,953,695.07. The trade was a 0.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director C Douglas Mcmillon sold 19,416 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $118.63, for a total transaction of $2,303,320.08. Following the transaction, the director owned 4,174,579 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $495,230,306.77. This represents a 0.46% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 67,729 shares of company stock valued at $8,124,931 in the last three months. 0.09% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently weighed in on WMT. Evercore reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Walmart in a report on Monday, May 18th. Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $137.00 price objective on shares of Walmart in a report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating on shares of Walmart in a research report on Monday, June 8th. Truist Financial set a $140.00 price objective on shares of Walmart in a research report on Thursday, May 21st. Finally, Erste Group Bank downgraded Walmart from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, June 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-one have issued a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $138.56.

Walmart Stock Performance

WMT stock opened at $111.20 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 0.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42. The firm has a market cap of $884.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.02, a P/E/G ratio of 4.15 and a beta of 0.60. Walmart Inc. has a 12-month low of $95.42 and a 12-month high of $135.15. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $115.17 and its 200 day simple moving average is $121.96.

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

Walmart 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.