Teacher Retirement System of Texas Purchases 233,258 Shares of Walmart Inc. $WMT

Key Points

• Teacher Retirement System of Texas increased its stake in Walmart by 18.6%, buying 233,258 shares to hold 1,488,076 shares valued at about $165.8 million, making WMT its 20th-largest holding (~0.6% of the portfolio).
• Walmart beat recent quarterly revenue and EPS estimates and set FY27 EPS guidance of 2.75–2.85, drawing analyst upgrades and a consensus "Buy" (average target ~$137.79), but investors remain cautious due to a high P/E (~47.4) and heavy capex that pressures free cash flow and valuation.

Teacher Retirement System of Texas boosted its position in shares of Walmart Inc. (NASDAQ:WMT - Free Report) by 18.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,488,076 shares of the retailer's stock after buying an additional 233,258 shares during the period. Walmart makes up about 0.6% of Teacher Retirement System of Texas' portfolio, making the stock its 20th biggest holding. Teacher Retirement System of Texas' holdings in Walmart were worth $165,787,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Trail Ridge Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Walmart by 3.1% during the fourth quarter. Trail Ridge Investment Advisors LLC now owns 3,611 shares of the retailer's stock valued at $402,000 after buying an additional 110 shares during the last quarter. Schear Investment Advisers LLC raised its position in Walmart by 51.4% during the fourth quarter. Schear Investment Advisers LLC now owns 22,975 shares of the retailer's stock valued at $2,560,000 after purchasing an additional 7,798 shares during the period. Joseph P. Lucia & Associates LLC raised its position in Walmart by 23.9% during the fourth quarter. Joseph P. Lucia & Associates LLC now owns 4,196 shares of the retailer's stock valued at $467,000 after purchasing an additional 809 shares during the period. Wealth Management Nebraska raised its position in Walmart by 5.5% during the fourth quarter. Wealth Management Nebraska now owns 12,152 shares of the retailer's stock valued at $1,354,000 after purchasing an additional 633 shares during the period. Finally, West Michigan Advisors LLC raised its position in Walmart by 3.7% during the fourth quarter. West Michigan Advisors LLC now owns 34,809 shares of the retailer's stock valued at $3,886,000 after purchasing an additional 1,231 shares during the period. 26.76% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Key Stories Impacting Walmart

Here are the key news stories impacting Walmart this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Company released its 2026 Annual Report highlighting investments in associates and AI tools aimed at improving customer experience, operations and productivity — messaging that supports longer-term growth prospects. Walmart Touts People and AI in Annual Report
• Positive Sentiment: Recent quarterly results beat revenue and EPS expectations and management set FY27 EPS guidance, showing underlying sales and margins resilience — a supportive signal for fundamentals. WMT MarketBeat summary
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst support: Morgan Stanley raised its price target to $140, and the consensus analyst rating remains a "Buy" — these represent catalyst potential if upgrades continue. Morgan Stanley Increases Walmart Price Target
• Positive Sentiment: Strategic initiatives that could drive sales mix and margins: a major redesign of the Great Value private label (10,000 items) and expansion of health offerings via Better Care Services. Those moves support SKU refresh and higher-margin services. Is Walmart One of the Best Performing Dow Stocks?
• Neutral Sentiment: Walmart is diversifying beyond retail (new Upstream Facility Services maintenance unit) — a long-term revenue diversification that is unlikely to move near-term earnings materially. Walmart Diversifies Beyond Retail Into Maintenance Services
• Neutral Sentiment: Short-interest reporting is effectively meaningless in the latest print (reported as zero), so short-covering dynamics are not a current driver. Short Interest Data
• Negative Sentiment: Valuation and cash-flow concerns: several commentary pieces argue WMT is expensive (high P/E) given slowing growth and heavy capital expenditure that suppresses free cash flow — these critiques are the most likely reason traders are taking profits after recent gains. Walmart: Too Expensive Considering Slowing Growth
• Negative Sentiment: Another analysis highlights that large capex to support technology and store initiatives is weighing on free cash flow, raising near-term margin and valuation risk for investors. Speculative Valuation As Free Cash Flow Is Held Down By Immense Capex

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have issued reports on WMT. Citigroup restated a "buy" rating and set a $147.00 price objective (up from $120.00) on shares of Walmart in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Evercore restated an "outperform" rating and set a $130.00 price objective (up from $125.00) on shares of Walmart in a research report on Tuesday, February 3rd. Raymond James Financial restated an "outperform" rating and set a $135.00 price objective on shares of Walmart in a research report on Friday, March 6th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Walmart from $135.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, BMO Capital Markets restated an "outperform" rating on shares of Walmart in a research report on Wednesday, January 14th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty have issued a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $137.79.

Insider Activity at Walmart

In other Walmart news, EVP John D. Rainey sold 20,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $122.27, for a total transaction of $2,445,400.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 506,764 shares in the company, valued at $61,962,034.28. This trade represents a 3.80% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director C Douglas Mcmillon sold 19,416 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $126.71, for a total value of $2,460,201.36. Following the transaction, the director owned 4,023,209 shares in the company, valued at $509,780,812.39. The trade was a 0.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 263,376 shares of company stock worth $32,851,650 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.10% of the company's stock.

Walmart Trading Down 1.6%

Shares of NASDAQ WMT opened at $129.92 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a quick ratio of 0.24 and a current ratio of 0.79. The business's 50 day moving average price is $125.59 and its 200-day moving average price is $116.83. Walmart Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $91.89 and a fifty-two week high of $134.69. The company has a market cap of $1.04 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 47.42, a PEG ratio of 4.92 and a beta of 0.66.

Walmart (NASDAQ:WMT - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 19th. The retailer reported $0.74 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.73 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $190.66 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $188.37 billion. Walmart had a return on equity of 21.44% and a net margin of 3.07%.Walmart's quarterly revenue was up 5.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.66 EPS. Walmart has set its FY 2027 guidance at 2.750-2.850 EPS and its Q1 2027 guidance at 0.610-0.610 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Walmart Inc. will post 2.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Walmart Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, January 4th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 11th will be issued a dividend of $0.2475 per share. This represents a $0.99 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 11th. Walmart's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 36.13%.

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.

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