Walmart (NYSE:WMT) Trading Down 0.2% After Insider Selling

Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) dropped 0.2% on Wednesday after an insider sold shares in the company. The stock traded as low as $67.76 and last traded at $67.92. Approximately 1,689,462 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 91% from the average daily volume of 17,815,080 shares. The stock had previously closed at $68.07.

Specifically, CEO C Douglas Mcmillon sold 29,124 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.03, for a total value of $1,748,313.72. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 4,018,650 shares in the company, valued at $241,239,559.50. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, CEO C Douglas Mcmillon sold 29,124 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.03, for a total transaction of $1,748,313.72. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 4,018,650 shares in the company, valued at approximately $241,239,559.50. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Timothy Patrick Flynn sold 30,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.82, for a total value of $1,944,600.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 144,807 shares in the company, valued at $9,386,389.74. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 14,525,340 shares of company stock worth $953,023,399. 45.58% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

WMT has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Oppenheimer boosted their price target on Walmart from $69.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 6th. Raymond James raised their price objective on shares of Walmart from $63.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, May 17th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of Walmart from $65.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, May 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Walmart from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $66.00 to $81.00 in a research report on Monday, June 10th. Finally, Citigroup raised their target price on Walmart from $63.33 to $75.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 17th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $70.47.

Walmart Trading Up 0.2 %

The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $64.57 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $59.71. The firm has a market capitalization of $548.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.20, a PEG ratio of 3.92 and a beta of 0.50.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 16th. The retailer reported $0.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.52 by $0.08. Walmart had a return on equity of 21.57% and a net margin of 2.88%. The company had revenue of $161.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $159.57 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.49 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 6.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that Walmart Inc. will post 2.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Walmart

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Walmart by 199.4% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 411,745,334 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $24,774,717,000 after acquiring an additional 274,229,968 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its stake in shares of Walmart by 181.0% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 56,861,234 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $3,421,342,000 after purchasing an additional 36,625,314 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its holdings in shares of Walmart by 183.0% during the 1st quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 29,172,985 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,755,339,000 after purchasing an additional 18,865,484 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley increased its position in shares of Walmart by 1.8% during the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 24,087,268 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $3,852,277,000 after purchasing an additional 426,388 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in Walmart in the fourth quarter valued at about $3,674,652,000. 26.76% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Walmart

Walmart Inc engages in the operation of retail, wholesale, other units, and eCommerce worldwide. The company operates through three segments: Walmart U.S., Walmart International, and Sam's Club. It operates supercenters, supermarkets, hypermarkets, warehouse clubs, cash and carry stores, and discount stores under Walmart and Walmart Neighborhood Market brands; membership-only warehouse clubs; ecommerce websites, such as walmart.com.mx, walmart.ca, flipkart.com, PhonePe and other sites; and mobile commerce applications.