Walmart Sees Unusually High Options Volume (NYSE:WMT)

Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) was the target of some unusual options trading on Friday. Traders acquired 137,942 call options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 36% compared to the average daily volume of 101,602 call options.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently commented on WMT. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on Walmart from $69.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, June 6th. KeyCorp upped their target price on Walmart from $75.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Truist Financial upped their target price on Walmart from $64.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, August 16th. Bank of America upped their target price on Walmart from $75.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 16th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on Walmart from $73.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 16th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $78.64.

Walmart Price Performance

WMT opened at $77.23 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $70.55 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $64.67. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46. The company has a market cap of $621.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.87 and a beta of 0.50. Walmart has a 12-month low of $49.85 and a 12-month high of $77.47.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 15th. The retailer reported $0.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.65 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $169.30 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $168.56 billion. Walmart had a return on equity of 21.72% and a net margin of 2.34%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.61 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Walmart will post 2.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Walmart

In other Walmart news, CEO C Douglas Mcmillon sold 29,124 shares of Walmart stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.61, for a total transaction of $2,056,445.64. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 3,931,301 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $277,589,163.61. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, SVP David Chojnowski sold 8,791 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.00, for a total transaction of $597,788.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 94,415 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,420,220. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO C Douglas Mcmillon sold 29,124 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.61, for a total value of $2,056,445.64. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,931,301 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $277,589,163.61. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 6,332,089 shares of company stock valued at $422,145,654 in the last quarter. 45.58% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Walmart

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Walmart by 199.4% during 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 in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its holdings in shares of Walmart by 181.0% during the first 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 acquiring an additional 36,625,314 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Walmart during the fourth quarter valued at $3,674,652,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its holdings in shares of Walmart by 183.0% during the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 29,172,985 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,755,339,000 after acquiring an additional 18,865,484 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Swiss National Bank increased its holdings in shares of Walmart by 187.4% during the first quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 13,303,200 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $800,454,000 after acquiring an additional 8,674,100 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 26.76% of the company’s stock.

Walmart Company Profile

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.