Insider Selling: Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) EVP Sells 3,000 Shares of Stock

Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) EVP John D. Rainey sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.48, for a total transaction of $232,440.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 384,165 shares in the company, valued at $29,765,104.20. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link.

Walmart Price Performance

Walmart stock traded down $0.28 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $76.96. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 12,936,291 shares, compared to its average volume of 17,427,727. The stock has a market cap of $619.03 billion, a PE ratio of 32.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.87 and a beta of 0.51. 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 business has a 50-day moving average price of $71.09 and a 200-day moving average price of $65.16. Walmart Inc. has a 52 week low of $49.85 and a 52 week high of $77.81.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, August 15th. The retailer reported $0.67 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.65 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $169.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $168.56 billion. Walmart had a return on equity of 21.72% and a net margin of 2.34%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.61 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Walmart Inc. will post 2.44 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Walmart

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of WMT. Aveo Capital Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Walmart by 4.8% during the fourth quarter. Aveo Capital Partners LLC now owns 4,330 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $683,000 after purchasing an additional 197 shares in the last quarter. 9258 Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Walmart by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. 9258 Wealth Management LLC now owns 12,972 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $2,045,000 after purchasing an additional 235 shares in the last quarter. Gryphon Financial Partners LLC raised its holdings in Walmart by 58.3% during the fourth quarter. Gryphon Financial Partners LLC now owns 6,631 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,033,000 after acquiring an additional 2,443 shares during the period. Wealthspire Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Walmart by 33.0% during the fourth quarter. Wealthspire Advisors LLC now owns 29,541 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $4,657,000 after purchasing an additional 7,330 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Darwin Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Walmart during the fourth quarter valued at $2,340,000. Institutional investors own 26.76% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WMT has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. KeyCorp boosted their price objective on Walmart from $75.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Walmart from $75.00 to $82.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, August 16th. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on Walmart from $65.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, May 17th. Roth Mkm raised their price target on Walmart from $71.00 to $81.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 16th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on shares of Walmart from $74.00 to $80.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, August 16th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Walmart has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $78.99.

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.