Kentucky Retirement Systems Reduces Holdings in Walmart Inc. $WMT

Kentucky Retirement Systems reduced its stake in shares of Walmart Inc. (NASDAQ:WMT) by 51.1% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 133,575 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 139,586 shares during the quarter. Kentucky Retirement Systems’ holdings in Walmart were worth $16,601,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Walmart by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 439,957,146 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $49,015,626,000 after purchasing an additional 4,304,436 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Walmart by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 184,805,978 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $19,046,104,000 after purchasing an additional 2,242,364 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 6,517,394 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Walmart in the 4th quarter valued at about $6,458,529,000. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its stake in Walmart by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 40,626,852 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $4,526,238,000 after buying an additional 328,229 shares during the last quarter. 26.76% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Walmart

In related news, EVP Daniel J. Bartlett sold 3,775 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $109.64, for a total transaction of $413,891.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 630,009 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $69,074,186.76. This trade represents a 0.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director C Douglas Mcmillon sold 19,416 shares of Walmart stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the director owned 4,174,579 shares in the company, valued at approximately $495,230,306.77. This trade represents a 0.46% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 67,729 shares of company stock valued at $8,124,931. Corporate insiders own 0.09% of the company’s stock.

Walmart Stock Up 1.0%

WMT opened at $114.22 on Thursday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $115.56 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $122.03. The company has a quick ratio of 0.23, a current ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42. The company has a market cap of $908.97 billion, a PE ratio of 40.08, a P/E/G ratio of 4.22 and a beta of 0.60. Walmart Inc. has a 52 week low of $95.42 and a 52 week high of $135.15.

Walmart (NASDAQ:WMT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 21st. The retailer reported $0.66 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.66. Walmart had a return on equity of 21.25% and a net margin of 3.13%.The company had revenue of $177.75 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $174.84 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.61 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.4% on a year-over-year basis. 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, research analysts anticipate that Walmart Inc. will post 2.89 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have commented on WMT. Guggenheim lifted their price target on Walmart from $120.00 to $137.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 13th. Truist Financial set a $140.00 price objective on Walmart in a report on Thursday, May 21st. Tigress Financial restated a “buy” rating and set a $155.00 target price (up from $150.00) on shares of Walmart in a research report on Friday, May 29th. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Walmart in a report on Friday, May 22nd. Finally, UBS Group set a $141.00 price target on shares of Walmart and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-one have assigned a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Walmart has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $138.65.

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.