Walmart Inc. $WMT Shares Sold by Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky

Key Points

• Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky trimmed its Walmart stake by 5.1%, selling 31,708 shares and leaving it with 591,723 shares valued at $65.924 million (WMT is 0.5% of the fund and its 24th-largest holding).
• Walmart recently beat quarterly revenue and EPS expectations and set FY27 EPS guidance of 2.75–2.85, while analysts maintain a consensus Buy rating with an average target of $137.79; however, some commentary flags a high P/E and heavy capex that may pressure free cash flow and valuation.
• Major institutions are also active: Vanguard added about 4.3 million shares to hold roughly 439.96 million shares (~$49.02 billion), institutional investors own 26.76% of WMT, and insiders have sold 263,376 shares (~$32.85 million) over the past three months.

Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky lowered its holdings in Walmart Inc. (NASDAQ:WMT - Free Report) by 5.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 591,723 shares of the retailer's stock after selling 31,708 shares during the period. Walmart comprises 0.5% of Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky's portfolio, making the stock its 24th largest position. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky's holdings in Walmart were worth $65,924,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of WMT. Brickley Wealth Management purchased a new stake in Walmart during the 4th quarter worth approximately $209,000. True Link Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Walmart during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $406,000. Richard C. Young & CO. LTD. boosted its stake in shares of Walmart by 11.5% during the 4th quarter. Richard C. Young & CO. LTD. now owns 218,332 shares of the retailer's stock valued at $24,324,000 after buying an additional 22,537 shares during the last quarter. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc grew its position in shares of Walmart by 12.4% during the fourth quarter. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc now owns 434,136 shares of the retailer's stock worth $48,358,000 after buying an additional 47,772 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Walmart by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 439,957,146 shares of the retailer's stock worth $49,015,626,000 after buying an additional 4,304,436 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 26.76% of the company's stock.

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently issued reports on WMT shares. BTIG Research reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $140.00 price target on shares of Walmart in a report on Friday, February 20th. Roth Mkm reissued a "buy" rating and set a $138.00 price objective on shares of Walmart in a report on Friday, February 20th. Wells Fargo & Company reissued an "overweight" rating and issued a $140.00 target price (up from $130.00) on shares of Walmart in a research report on Tuesday, February 10th. Evercore restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $130.00 target price (up from $125.00) on shares of Walmart in a research note on Tuesday, February 3rd. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "buy (b)" rating on shares of Walmart in a research report on Monday, April 20th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty have assigned a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Walmart presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $137.79.

Walmart Stock Performance

Shares of WMT stock opened at $129.92 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $1.04 trillion, a P/E ratio of 47.42, a PEG ratio of 4.84 and a beta of 0.66. The business has a 50 day moving average of $125.59 and a two-hundred day moving average of $117.02. Walmart Inc. has a 52 week low of $91.89 and a 52 week high of $134.69. The company has a quick ratio of 0.24, a current ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38.

Walmart (NASDAQ:WMT - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 19th. The retailer reported $0.74 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.73 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $190.66 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $188.37 billion. Walmart had a return on equity of 21.44% and a net margin of 3.07%.The business's quarterly revenue was up 5.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $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. As a group, analysts anticipate that Walmart Inc. will post 2.89 EPS for the current year.

Walmart Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Christopher James Nicholas sold 2,900 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $124.72, for a total transaction of $361,688.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 596,008 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $74,334,117.76. The trade was a 0.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, EVP John D. Rainey sold 20,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $127.79, for a total transaction of $2,555,800.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 486,764 shares of the company's stock, valued at $62,203,571.56. This represents a 3.95% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 263,376 shares of company stock valued at $32,851,650 in the last three months. 0.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Walmart 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.

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