Walmart (NASDAQ:WMT) Trading Up 2.8% – What’s Next?

Walmart Inc. (NASDAQ:WMT)’s stock price shot up 2.8% on Thursday . The company traded as high as $112.45 and last traded at $111.84. 28,211,285 shares were traded during trading, an increase of 8% from the average session volume of 26,147,357 shares. The stock had previously closed at $108.82.

Key Walmart News

Here are the key news stories impacting Walmart this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Walmart is being viewed as a defensive winner in a cautious consumer environment, with commentary pointing to resilient grocery spending, strong omnichannel execution, and growth in advertising and membership revenue as reasons the stock could grind higher. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts remain broadly constructive on Walmart, and new commentary highlighted strong interest in the company’s Google AI partnership for “agentic shopping,” which could support future digital commerce growth and ecosystem monetization. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Unusual options activity showed bullish positioning, with traders buying far more WMT call options than usual, suggesting some investors are betting on a rebound. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Wall Street continues to rate Walmart favorably overall, with several firms reiterating buy-equivalent ratings and an average price target above current levels, though not enough to fully offset recent valuation concerns.
• Negative Sentiment: Investor concern remains over slowing U.S. comparable sales and the company’s reliance on price cuts and tariff refunds to manage inventory, which could pressure margins if the trend continues. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Walmart EVP Daniel J. Bartlett sold 3,775 shares in a pre-arranged 10b5-1 transaction, a routine filing but still a small negative sentiment item for traders. Article Title

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently commented on WMT shares. Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating on shares of Walmart in a research note on Monday, June 8th. 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. UBS Group set a $141.00 target price on shares of Walmart and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 22nd. BMO Capital Markets reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Walmart in a research report on Friday, May 22nd. Finally, Evercore reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Walmart in a research note on Monday, May 18th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-one have assigned a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $138.85.

Walmart Price Performance

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 50 day moving average price of $122.15 and a 200-day moving average price of $122.07. The firm has a market cap of $890.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.24, a P/E/G ratio of 4.17 and a beta of 0.60.

Walmart (NASDAQ:WMT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 21st. The retailer reported $0.66 EPS for the quarter, meeting 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%. The firm’s revenue was up 7.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.61 EPS. Walmart has set its FY 2027 guidance at 2.750-2.850 EPS and its Q2 2027 guidance at 0.720-0.740 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Walmart Inc. will post 2.89 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP David W. Guggina sold 11,978 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $119.82, for a total transaction of $1,435,203.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 125,067 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,985,527.94. This trade represents a 8.74% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 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 that occurred on Thursday, May 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $118.63, for a total value 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 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 ninety days, insiders sold 104,505 shares of company stock valued at $12,858,514. Corporate insiders own 0.09% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Walmart

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Walmart by 1.0% during the 4th 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 raised its position in shares of Walmart by 1.2% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 184,805,978 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $19,046,104,000 after buying an additional 2,242,364 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Walmart by 6.8% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 103,010,709 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $11,426,753,000 after buying an additional 6,517,394 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Walmart during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $6,458,529,000. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its position in Walmart by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 40,626,852 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $4,526,238,000 after acquiring an additional 328,229 shares during the last quarter. 26.76% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Walmart Company 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.