West Family Investments Inc. Acquires Shares of 13,700 Walmart Inc. $WMT

West Family Investments Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Walmart Inc. (NASDAQ:WMT) in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm acquired 13,700 shares of the retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $1,552,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in WMT. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Walmart during the 4th quarter worth approximately $6,458,529,000. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Walmart by 188.1% in the 3rd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 11,663,172 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,199,907,000 after acquiring an additional 7,614,172 shares during the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG grew its position in Walmart by 54.0% in the second quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 18,607,297 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $2,107,462,000 after acquiring an additional 6,525,224 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Walmart by 6.8% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 103,010,709 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $11,426,753,000 after acquiring an additional 6,517,394 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital International Investors bought a new stake in Walmart during the fourth quarter worth approximately $592,848,000. 26.76% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Walmart News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Walmart this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Walmart reported adjusted earnings of $0.81 per share and revenue of $187.94 billion, beating consensus estimates of $0.74 and $186.62 billion, respectively. Revenue increased 5.9% year over year. Walmart earnings report
• Positive Sentiment: Growth businesses remain strong: global e-commerce sales rose 23%, advertising revenue increased 38%, and global membership revenue grew 17%. These trends support the long-term investment case despite slower core-store growth. Walmart second-quarter highlights
• Positive Sentiment: Walmart plans to use approximately $2.9 billion in tariff refunds to help lower prices, potentially strengthening its value proposition as consumers become more budget-conscious. The rollout of tap-to-pay, including Apple Pay and Google Pay, may also improve checkout convenience. Walmart tap to pay rollout
• Neutral Sentiment: Several analysts retained bullish ratings—including buy, outperform, and overweight—but lowered price targets after the earnings release. New targets range from $120 to $140, indicating analysts still see meaningful upside but have moderated their expectations.
• Negative Sentiment: U.S. comparable sales grew 2.6%, below expectations near 3.5%, marking Walmart’s weakest domestic comparable-sales growth in more than six years. Analysts cited weakness in health and wellness and questioned the trajectory of the core U.S. business.
• Negative Sentiment: Third-quarter guidance fell short of consensus: Walmart projected adjusted EPS of $0.62–$0.64 versus $0.68 expected and revenue of $183.1–$184.5 billion versus $188.2 billion expected. The timing of Flipkart’s promotional event is also expected to reduce quarterly sales growth by more than 100 basis points.
• Negative Sentiment: The stock’s elevated valuation increases sensitivity to any slowdown, while higher energy costs and consumer trade-offs are raising broader concerns about the health of U.S. retail spending.

Walmart Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:WMT opened at $103.70 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $825.25 billion, a PE ratio of 37.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.91 and a beta of 0.61. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $113.35 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $121.24. Walmart Inc. has a 1 year low of $95.42 and a 1 year high of $135.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a current ratio of 0.77 and a quick ratio of 0.23.

Walmart (NASDAQ:WMT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 20th. The retailer reported $0.81 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.74 by $0.07. Walmart had a return on equity of 21.83% and a net margin of 3.00%.The firm had revenue of $187.94 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $186.64 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.68 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. Walmart has set its Q3 2027 guidance at 0.620-0.640 EPS and its FY 2027 guidance at 2.800-2.870 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Walmart Inc. will post 2.86 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Walmart

In other news, Director C Douglas Mcmillon sold 19,416 shares of the business’s 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 sale, the director directly owned 4,174,579 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $495,230,306.77. The trade was a 0.46% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, EVP Latriece Watkins sold 11,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $118.97, for a total transaction of $1,308,670.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 120,203 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,300,550.91. The trade was a 8.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 57,064 shares of company stock valued at $6,697,788. 0.09% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently issued reports on WMT. DA Davidson set a $132.00 price objective on Walmart and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $120.00 target price on shares of Walmart in a research report on Friday. Royal Bank Of Canada decreased their price target on Walmart from $137.00 to $131.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $113.00 price target on Walmart in a research report on Friday. Finally, Erste Group Bank lowered shares of Walmart from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, June 5th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-two have given a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $131.88.

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.