Probity Advisors Inc. Reduces Stock Holdings in Walmart Inc. $WMT

Probity Advisors Inc. reduced its stake in shares of Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) by 4.4% during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 15,258 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 702 shares during the period. Probity Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Walmart were worth $1,492,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Walmart by 0.8% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 425,961,042 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $37,395,120,000 after buying an additional 3,224,154 shares during the period. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC raised its holdings in shares of Walmart by 397,264.9% during the 2nd quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC now owns 104,514,912 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $10,496,702,000 after buying an additional 104,488,610 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its holdings in Walmart by 30.1% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 33,292,749 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $2,922,770,000 after purchasing an additional 7,706,201 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its holdings in Walmart by 1.3% during the 1st quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 30,874,987 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $2,710,665,000 after purchasing an additional 387,424 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in Walmart by 2.9% during the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 29,188,142 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $2,562,427,000 after purchasing an additional 823,020 shares during the last quarter. 26.76% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WMT has been the topic of several analyst reports. Guggenheim restated a “buy” rating and set a $115.00 price objective (up from $112.00) on shares of Walmart in a report on Monday, August 18th. Mizuho restated an “outperform” rating and set a $115.00 price objective on shares of Walmart in a report on Wednesday, August 13th. Erste Group Bank upgraded Walmart from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 5th. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on Walmart from $110.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 13th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on Walmart from $130.00 to $127.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, August 22nd. Thirty-one investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Walmart has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $112.63.

Walmart Price Performance

Shares of NYSE WMT opened at $107.06 on Tuesday. Walmart Inc. has a twelve month low of $79.81 and a twelve month high of $109.57. The company has a current ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The company has a market capitalization of $853.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.08 and a beta of 0.67. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $101.75 and a 200-day simple moving average of $98.16.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 21st. The retailer reported $0.68 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74 by ($0.06). Walmart had a net margin of 3.08% and a return on equity of 21.45%. The firm had revenue of $169.34 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $174.02 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.67 earnings per share. Walmart’s revenue was up 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Walmart has set its Q3 2026 guidance at 0.580-0.600 EPS. FY 2026 guidance at 2.520-2.620 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Walmart Inc. will post 2.55 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP John D. Rainey sold 2,200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $97.37, for a total transaction of $214,214.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 623,918 shares in the company, valued at $60,750,895.66. This represents a 0.35% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP John R. Furner sold 13,125 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $103.74, for a total value of $1,361,587.50. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 906,064 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $93,995,079.36. The trade was a 1.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 147,038 shares of company stock worth $14,869,054 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.10% of the company’s stock.

Walmart Profile

Walmart Inc engages in the operation of retail, wholesale, other units, and eCommerce worldwide. The company operates through three segments: Walmart U.S., Walmart International, and Sam's Club. It operates supercenters, supermarkets, hypermarkets, warehouse clubs, cash and carry stores, and discount stores under Walmart and Walmart Neighborhood Market brands; membership-only warehouse clubs; ecommerce websites, such as walmart.com.mx, walmart.ca, flipkart.com, PhonePe and other sites; and mobile commerce applications.