Walmart (NASDAQ:WMT) Trading Down 1.2% – Here’s Why

Walmart Inc. (NASDAQ:WMT)’s stock price traded down 1.2% during trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as low as $112.93 and last traded at $113.26. 22,300,910 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 14% from the average daily volume of 26,008,605 shares. The stock had previously closed at $114.60.

Walmart News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Walmart this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Walmart is seeing unusually heavy call buying, with traders purchasing 172,007 call options, suggesting some investors are betting on a rebound or further upside in the shares.
• Positive Sentiment: New coverage highlighted Walmart’s AI shopping push with Google’s Gemini as a potential catalyst, with agentic shopping moving from concept to production and potentially improving customer engagement and checkout conversion. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Walmart Connect is increasingly viewed as a bigger margin driver, helped by ad growth, seller spending, and e-commerce gains, which could support profitability even if core retail growth slows. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Analysts noted Walmart and Kroger may be better positioned than peers to handle industry headwinds such as inflation, pricing pressure, and cautious consumers thanks to scale, omnichannel growth, and retail media. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Walmart-owned Flipkart is preparing to compete more aggressively in India’s rapid-delivery market, which could expand its international opportunity but is still early-stage and competitive. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Recent research reports flagged slowing U.S. comparable sales and Walmart’s use of price cuts and tariff refunds to manage inventory, raising questions about sales guidance and operating margin durability. Article Title

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have issued reports on WMT. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $150.00 price target (up from $145.00) on shares of Walmart in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Walmart from $135.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 22nd. KeyCorp reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of Walmart in a research note on Friday, May 22nd. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $137.00 target price (down from $140.00) on shares of Walmart in a research note on Friday, May 22nd. Finally, Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of Walmart in a report on Monday, June 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-one have assigned a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $138.85.

Walmart Price Performance

The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $122.87 and its 200-day moving average price is $122.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42, a current ratio of 0.77 and a quick ratio of 0.23. The firm has a market cap of $890.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.22 and a beta of 0.60.

Walmart (NASDAQ:WMT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 21st. The retailer reported $0.66 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.66. Walmart had a net margin of 3.13% and a return on equity of 21.25%. The firm had revenue of $177.75 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $174.84 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.61 EPS. The company’s revenue 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. Equities research analysts predict that Walmart Inc. will post 2.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Walmart

In related news, Director C Douglas Mcmillon sold 19,416 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $118.63, for a total transaction of $2,303,320.08. Following the transaction, 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO John R. Furner sold 13,125 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $124.84, for a total value of $1,638,525.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 674,162 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $84,162,384.08. This represents a 1.91% 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. Insiders have sold a total of 100,730 shares of company stock valued at $12,444,624 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.09% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Walmart

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. MFA Wealth Services grew its stake in Walmart by 0.7% in the first quarter. MFA Wealth Services now owns 10,909 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,356,000 after purchasing an additional 80 shares in the last quarter. Realta Investment Advisors raised its position in Walmart by 2.0% during the first quarter. Realta Investment Advisors now owns 4,089 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $508,000 after acquiring an additional 81 shares in the last quarter. Compton Financial Group LLC raised its position in Walmart by 4.1% during the first quarter. Compton Financial Group LLC now owns 2,081 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $259,000 after acquiring an additional 82 shares in the last quarter. Renaissance Group LLC lifted its stake in Walmart by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Renaissance Group LLC now owns 9,636 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,074,000 after acquiring an additional 83 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Calton & Associates Inc. lifted its stake in Walmart by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Calton & Associates Inc. now owns 27,220 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $3,033,000 after acquiring an additional 84 shares during the last quarter. 26.76% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Walmart

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.