Walmart (NASDAQ:WMT) Stock Price Up 1.9% – Time to Buy?

Walmart Inc. (NASDAQ:WMT)’s share price traded up 1.9% during mid-day trading on Friday. The company traded as high as $124.51 and last traded at $123.51. Approximately 29,587,862 shares were traded during trading, an increase of 19% from the average daily volume of 24,841,717 shares. The stock had previously closed at $121.25.

More Walmart News

Here are the key news stories impacting Walmart this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Energy investment expands Walmart’s customer offerings: Walmart is making a strategic investment in Base Power and will offer the company’s home battery systems to Walmart customers and Sam’s Club members beginning in November. The systems are designed to reduce energy costs and provide backup power, creating a potential new customer benefit while expanding Walmart’s ecosystem beyond traditional retail. Walmart and Base Power announce strategic agreement
• Positive Sentiment: Major automation agreement with Symbotic: Walmart expanded its commercial relationship with warehouse-automation provider Symbotic in a deal valued at approximately $6 billion. Greater automation could improve fulfillment capacity, labor efficiency and inventory management, although the investment also carries execution and capital-spending risks. Symbotic stock jumps on Walmart automation deal
• Positive Sentiment: Strong fundamentals continue to support the stock: Walmart’s latest quarterly results exceeded consensus estimates for both earnings and revenue, with revenue rising year over year. Analysts and market commentary continue to highlight earnings growth and price strength as reasons to remain constructive on WMT. Earnings growth and price strength make Walmart a stock to watch
• Neutral Sentiment: Healthcare expansion offers a longer-term growth avenue: Walmart has broadened its Better Care Services platform into a healthcare marketplace connecting customers with third-party providers. The initiative could increase customer engagement, but its financial contribution is not yet clear. Walmart launched a healthcare services marketplace
• Negative Sentiment: Competitive and regulatory concerns remain: DoorDash’s proposed $17 billion acquisition of Instacart is intended partly to strengthen competition with Walmart and Amazon in local commerce and grocery delivery. Separately, the FTC is seeking information from Walmart about the use of personal data in personalized pricing, creating potential compliance and reputational risks. FTC orders Walmart and others to share pricing data information
• Negative Sentiment: Valuation comparisons could limit upside: Walmart trades at a substantially higher earnings multiple than Target, while commentary suggests Walmart’s comparable-sales growth may be moderating. That premium leaves the stock more exposed if growth expectations weaken. Target trades at a fraction of Walmart’s valuation

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on WMT shares. Robert W. Baird reduced their target price on Walmart from $140.00 to $120.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, August 21st. BMO Capital Markets reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $126.00 target price on shares of Walmart in a research note on Friday, August 21st. Cantor Fitzgerald raised Walmart to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 21st. TD Cowen restated a “buy” rating on shares of Walmart in a research report on Friday, August 21st. Finally, Wolfe Research reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $115.00 target price on shares of Walmart in a report on Friday, August 21st. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-three have issued a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Walmart has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $132.41.

Walmart Stock Up 1.9%

The company has a current ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 0.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $109.84 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $118.37. The firm has a market cap of $979.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.59, a PEG ratio of 4.29 and a beta of 0.58.

Walmart (NASDAQ:WMT) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, August 20th. The retailer reported $0.81 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.74 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $187.94 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $186.64 billion. Walmart had a return on equity of 21.83% and a net margin of 3.00%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.68 earnings per share. 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 forecast that Walmart Inc. will post 2.88 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Walmart news, EVP Christopher Nicholas sold 2,900 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $120.60, for a total transaction of $349,740.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 563,353 shares in the company, valued at $67,940,371.80. This trade represents a 0.51% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction 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, EVP Daniel Danker sold 50,644 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $105.35, for a total value of $5,335,345.40. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 201,672 shares in the company, valued at $21,246,145.20. This trade represents a 20.07% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Insiders have sold a total of 102,244 shares of company stock worth $11,112,044 in the last three months. Insiders own 0.09% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Walmart

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of Walmart by 1.1% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 188,036,646 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $21,297,031,000 after acquiring an additional 2,107,781 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE purchased a new stake in Walmart in the second quarter valued at $7,455,131,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its stake in Walmart by 6.4% in the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 28,142,040 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $3,497,493,000 after acquiring an additional 1,681,353 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc acquired a new stake in shares of Walmart in the 2nd quarter valued at about $2,905,655,000. Finally, Amundi increased its position in Walmart by 44.4% during the second quarter. Amundi now owns 20,796,957 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $2,355,463,000 after buying an additional 6,393,326 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 26.76% of the company’s stock.

Walmart Company Profile

Walmart Inc (NASDAQ:WMT) operates a global retail business through a network of supercenters, supermarkets, discount stores, neighborhood markets, warehouse clubs and e-commerce platforms. Its stores and websites sell a broad assortment of merchandise, including groceries, consumables, health and wellness products, apparel, electronics, home goods, toys and other general merchandise.

The company organizes its operations into Walmart U.S., Walmart International and Sam’s Club U.S. Walmart U.S.