Walmart Inc. $WMT Shares Newly Acquired by Gray Private Wealth LLC

Gray Private Wealth LLC bought a new position in Walmart Inc. (NASDAQ:WMT - Free Report) during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 13,264 shares of the retailer's stock, valued at approximately $1,378,000. Walmart accounts for about 0.6% of Gray Private Wealth LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 18th largest holding.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. State Street Corp boosted its position in Walmart by 1.1% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 188,036,646 shares of the retailer's stock valued at $21,297,031,000 after purchasing an additional 2,107,781 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE acquired a new position in Walmart during the 2nd quarter valued at about $7,455,131,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised 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 buying an additional 1,681,353 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc purchased a new stake in Walmart in the second quarter valued at about $2,905,655,000. Finally, Amundi boosted its holdings in Walmart by 44.4% in the second quarter. Amundi now owns 20,796,957 shares of the retailer's stock worth $2,355,463,000 after acquiring an additional 6,393,326 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 26.76% of the company's stock.

Walmart News Summary

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

Insider Activity

In other Walmart news, EVP Daniel Danker sold 50,644 shares of the business'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 transaction, the executive vice president owned 201,672 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $21,246,145.20. The trade was a 20.07% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 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. Also, EVP Christopher Nicholas sold 2,900 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $120.60, for a total value of $349,740.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 563,353 shares of the company's stock, valued at $67,940,371.80. This trade represents a 0.51% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 102,244 shares of company stock valued at $11,112,044 in the last 90 days. 0.09% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Walmart Stock Performance

NASDAQ WMT opened at $123.51 on Friday. Walmart Inc. has a 1-year low of $98.88 and a 1-year high of $135.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a current ratio of 0.77 and a quick ratio of 0.23. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $110.23 and its 200-day simple moving average is $118.40. The company has a market cap of $979.90 billion, a PE ratio of 44.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.38 and a beta of 0.58.

Walmart (NASDAQ:WMT - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 20th. The retailer reported $0.81 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.74 by $0.07. Walmart had a net margin of 3.00% and a return on equity of 21.83%. The firm had revenue of $187.94 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $186.64 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.68 earnings per share. Walmart's quarterly revenue was up 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. 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, equities research analysts anticipate that Walmart Inc. will post 2.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have issued reports on WMT shares. BNP Paribas Exane reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $137.00 price target (down from $146.00) on shares of Walmart in a report on Friday, August 21st. Roth Capital reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Walmart in a report on Friday, August 21st. DA Davidson restated a "buy" rating and set a $132.00 target price on shares of Walmart in a research report on Thursday, September 10th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on shares of Walmart from $140.00 to $120.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, August 21st. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised Walmart from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their price target for the company from $113.00 to $136.00 in a report on Thursday, October 15th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-three have given a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $132.41.

About Walmart

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.

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