Walmart (NASDAQ:WMT) Trading Down 1% – Time to Sell?

Shares of Walmart Inc. (NASDAQ:WMT) were down 1% during trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as low as $104.40 and last traded at $105.38. Approximately 26,477,878 shares were traded during trading, an increase of 3% from the average daily volume of 25,690,574 shares. The stock had previously closed at $106.49.

Walmart News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Walmart this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Strong quarterly growth: Walmart reported $187.9 billion in revenue, up 5.9% year over year, while global ecommerce sales increased 23% and advertising revenue surged 38%. Adjusted earnings of $0.81 per share exceeded the $0.74 consensus estimate, supporting the company’s digital and higher-margin business strategy. Walmart Q2 2027 Earnings Call Transcript
• Positive Sentiment: Growth initiatives remain promising: Analysts and investors continue to point to ecommerce, automation, advertising and Walmart’s AI shopping assistant, Sparky, as potential drivers of future sales and cash flow. Walmart said Sparky users spend substantially more than customers who shop without the tool. Walmart Sparky AI Assistant
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst support: Walmart has received a reported consensus price target of $138.50, while another report cited a target of $128.43. Heavy call-option activity may also signal that some traders anticipate a rebound. Walmart Consensus Price Target

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on WMT shares. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $130.00 price objective on shares of Walmart in a research note on Friday, August 21st. Tigress Financial reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $155.00 price target (up from $150.00) on shares of Walmart in a report on Friday, May 29th. BMO Capital Markets restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $126.00 price target on shares of Walmart in a research note on Friday, August 21st. TD Cowen reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Walmart in a report on Friday, August 21st. Finally, Evercore set a $125.00 target price on shares of Walmart in a research note on Friday, August 21st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-two have given a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $131.88.

Walmart Stock Down 1.4%

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a quick ratio of 0.23 and a current ratio of 0.77. The firm has a market capitalization of $818.66 billion, a PE ratio of 37.15, a PEG ratio of 4.00 and a beta of 0.61. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $112.47 and a 200-day moving average price of $120.78.

Walmart (NASDAQ:WMT) last announced 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. The company 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%. Walmart’s quarterly revenue was up 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $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. As a group, analysts expect that Walmart Inc. will post 2.87 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Walmart

In other news, EVP David W. Guggina sold 11,978 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the executive vice president directly owned 125,067 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,985,527.94. This represents a 8.74% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, EVP Christopher James Nicholas sold 2,900 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $106.34, for a total transaction of $308,386.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 569,153 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $60,523,730.02. The trade was a 0.51% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 26,648 shares of company stock worth $3,085,798 in the last three months. Insiders own 0.09% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Walmart

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. California State Teachers Retirement System boosted its stake in shares of Walmart by 11,189.0% during the 2nd quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 755,604,916 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $85,579,813,000 after purchasing an additional 748,911,635 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of Walmart by 1.2% during 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 period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew 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 last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE purchased a new stake in shares of Walmart in the second quarter worth approximately $7,455,131,000. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Walmart during the 4th quarter worth approximately $6,458,529,000. 26.76% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.