Walmart (NASDAQ:WMT) Hits New 1-Year High - What's Next?

Key Points

• Walmart hit a new 52-week high, trading as high as $135.01 as investors continued to favor the stock’s defensive profile and steady momentum.
• Recent coverage highlights solid fundamentals ahead of earnings, including omnichannel strength, e-commerce growth, and gains in advertising and membership revenue. Analysts also noted Walmart’s scale could help it benefit from tariffs and cautious consumer spending.
• Wall Street remains upbeat on the stock, with multiple firms raising price targets and the consensus rating staying at “Buy” with a target price of $138.88. Walmart also recently beat quarterly EPS and revenue estimates, reinforcing expectations for continued earnings strength.

Walmart Inc. (NASDAQ:WMT - Get Free Report) reached a new 52-week high during trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $135.01 and last traded at $134.7390, with a volume of 5412841 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $133.34.

More Walmart News

Here are the key news stories impacting Walmart this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Walmart is seen as relatively resilient heading into earnings, with analysts pointing to continued omnichannel momentum, e-commerce gains, and growth in ads and membership revenue as signs of healthy execution. Walmart Looks Strong Ahead of Q1 Earnings: Should Investors Stay Put?
• Positive Sentiment: Recent coverage suggests Walmart could benefit from tariffs and tighter consumer budgets thanks to scale, online expansion, and loyalty-driven growth, reinforcing its defensive appeal. Scale, online push and loyalty fees: how Walmart won the year of the tariffs
• Positive Sentiment: Walmart’s AI and automation push may create a long-term cost advantage by improving fulfillment efficiency and lifting order values. Walmart's AI and Automation Push: Long-Term Cost Advantage?
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts have been raising expectations for Walmart’s earnings power, with Erste Group nudging its FY2028 EPS estimate higher and maintaining a Strong-Buy view. Walmart analyst estimate update
• Neutral Sentiment: Market chatter around the upcoming earnings report suggests WMT could potentially challenge new highs if results and guidance meet elevated expectations. Here's How Much Walmart Stock Is Expected to Move After Earnings
• Neutral Sentiment: Target’s hiring of a former Walmart supply chain executive highlights Walmart’s talent strength, but the news is more relevant to Target’s turnaround than Walmart’s immediate outlook. Target names ex-Walmart executive as supply chain chief in CEO's turnaround push
• Negative Sentiment: EVP Daniel Bartlett sold 1,250 shares in a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 transaction, creating a small insider-sale headline that may slightly weigh on sentiment. SEC Form 4 filing
• Negative Sentiment: Broader retail sentiment remains pressured by rising gasoline prices and geopolitical risk, which could make investors cautious even toward defensive names like Walmart. Walmart, Target Earnings Loom As Consumer Fears Hit Retail Stocks

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently commented on WMT. Mizuho raised their price target on Walmart from $125.00 to $137.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, February 9th. Evercore reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of Walmart in a research report on Monday. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and set a $137.00 price target (up from $130.00) on shares of Walmart in a research report on Friday. Tigress Financial set a $150.00 price target on Walmart and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 25th. Finally, KeyCorp reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and set a $145.00 price target (up from $128.00) on shares of Walmart in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty have given a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $138.88.

Walmart Stock Performance

The stock has a 50-day moving average of $126.57 and a 200-day moving average of $119.46. The firm has a market cap of $1.07 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 48.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.85 and a beta of 0.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a quick ratio of 0.24 and a current ratio of 0.79.

Walmart (NASDAQ:WMT - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 19th. The retailer reported $0.74 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.73 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $190.66 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $188.37 billion. Walmart had a return on equity of 21.44% and a net margin of 3.07%.Walmart's revenue for the quarter was up 5.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last 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 fiscal year.

Walmart Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, January 4th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 11th will be given a dividend of $0.2475 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 11th. This represents a $0.99 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. Walmart's payout ratio is 36.13%.

Insider Activity

In other Walmart news, EVP Christopher James Nicholas sold 34,082 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $122.00, for a total transaction of $4,158,004.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 533,466 shares of the company's stock, valued at $65,082,852. The trade was a 6.01% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Latriece Watkins sold 10,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $121.46, for a total value of $1,214,600.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 108,294 shares in the company, valued at $13,153,389.24. This trade represents a 8.45% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 167,190 shares of company stock worth $20,975,838. Corporate insiders own 0.10% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Merkkuri Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Walmart during the 1st quarter worth approximately $29,000. Entrust Financial LLC bought a new stake in Walmart in the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. Collier Financial bought a new stake in Walmart in the 3rd quarter valued at $25,000. Your Advocates Ltd. LLP bought a new stake in Walmart in the 3rd quarter valued at $28,000. Finally, Beacon Financial Strategies CORP bought a new stake in Walmart in the 4th quarter valued at $30,000. 26.76% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.

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