Walmart Inc. $WMT Shares Bought by ProShare Advisors LLC

ProShare Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Walmart Inc. (NASDAQ:WMT) by 6.7% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 6,988,449 shares of the retailer’s stock after buying an additional 438,228 shares during the period. Walmart comprises 1.1% of ProShare Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 14th largest position. ProShare Advisors LLC’s holdings in Walmart were worth $726,240,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Montgomery Financial Services LLC acquired a new position in shares of Walmart in the second quarter valued at $32,000. Turim 21 Investimentos Ltda. bought a new stake in shares of Walmart in the second quarter valued at about $34,000. Pingora Partners LLC bought a new position in Walmart in the second quarter valued at approximately $34,000. PMV Capital Advisers LLC bought a new position in shares of Walmart during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $34,000. Finally, Evolution Wealth Management Inc. increased its position in Walmart by 44.3% during the 1st quarter. Evolution Wealth Management Inc. now owns 316 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $39,000 after buying an additional 97 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 26.76% of the company’s stock.

Key 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 Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on WMT. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on Walmart from $137.00 to $125.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, August 21st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded Walmart from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $113.00 to $136.00 in a research report on Thursday, October 15th. Truist Financial set a $114.00 price objective on shares of Walmart and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 21st. Freedom Broker upgraded shares of Walmart from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 20th. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $137.00 target price (down from $146.00) on shares of Walmart in a report on Friday, August 21st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-two have issued a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $132.41.

Walmart Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ WMT opened at $123.51 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.23, a current ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $110.23 and a 200-day simple moving average of $118.40. Walmart Inc. has a 52 week low of $98.88 and a 52 week high of $135.15. The stock has a market capitalization of $979.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.46 and a beta of 0.58.

Walmart (NASDAQ:WMT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 20th. The retailer reported $0.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.74 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $187.94 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $186.64 billion. Walmart had a net margin of 3.00% and a return on equity of 21.83%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior 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 predict that Walmart Inc. will post 2.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Walmart

In other Walmart news, CEO John Furner sold 13,125 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $106.66, for a total transaction of $1,399,912.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 647,912 shares in the company, valued at approximately $69,106,293.92. The trade was a 1.99% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, EVP Daniel Danker sold 50,644 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $105.35, for a total transaction of $5,335,345.40. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 201,672 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,246,145.20. This represents a 20.07% 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. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Insiders sold 102,244 shares of company stock worth $11,112,044 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.09% 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.