Analyst IMS Investment Management Services Ltd. Sells 37,075 Shares of Walmart Inc. $WMT

Analyst IMS Investment Management Services Ltd. cut its holdings in shares of Walmart Inc. (NASDAQ:WMT) by 68.0% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 17,431 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 37,075 shares during the quarter. Analyst IMS Investment Management Services Ltd.’s holdings in Walmart were worth $1,796,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC lifted its position in shares of Walmart by 397,264.9% in the 2nd quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC now owns 104,514,912 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $10,496,702,000 after purchasing an additional 104,488,610 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in Walmart in the second quarter worth about $5,367,770,000. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in Walmart by 9,648.7% in the second quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 11,486,374 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,123,138,000 after buying an additional 11,368,549 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Walmart by 1.4% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 431,817,510 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $42,223,116,000 after buying an additional 5,856,468 shares during the period. Finally, Amundi boosted its position in Walmart by 23.5% during the 2nd quarter. Amundi now owns 19,493,644 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,902,775,000 after acquiring an additional 3,710,506 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 26.76% of the company’s stock.

Walmart News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Walmart this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Strong fundamentals and analyst backing: Walmart’s recent quarterly beat and FY‑2026 EPS guidance provide an earnings-supportive backdrop, and multiple analysts maintain buy/outperform views — a tailwind for longer-term investor confidence.
• Neutral Sentiment: CEO insider sale — routine but notable: CEO C. Douglas McMillon sold 19,416 shares on Dec. 26 (avg price $111.83). The sale is relatively small (≈0.45% reduction) and follows prior periodic sales; investors often view such filings as liquidity/tax planning rather than a signal of deteriorating fundamentals. Insider Trades
• Neutral Sentiment: Talent flow to adtech/ecommerce: a former head of membership & business development at Walmart Business joined Teikametrics as SVP of Strategy — a reminder of Wal‑Mart alumni moving into the wider e‑commerce/AI ecosystem, which can both diffuse company-specific know‑how and broaden industry innovation. BusinessWire
• Neutral Sentiment: Increased investor attention: Zacks notes Walmart as a trending stock — higher retail interest can raise liquidity and volatility but doesn’t change fundamentals by itself. Zacks
• Negative Sentiment: Website and app outage — immediate operational risk: thousands of customers reported inability to access Walmart’s app and website on Dec. 30, per Downdetector and press reports. Temporary outages during peak shopping periods can dent e‑commerce sales, frustrate customers, and attract short‑term selling pressure. PYMNTS WSJ
• Negative Sentiment: Premium valuation and crowding risk: Walmart is trading at a high earnings multiple relative to history (~39x reported), which can limit upside and make the stock more sensitive to any growth or margin disappointments in 2026.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on WMT. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Walmart from $128.00 to $129.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 21st. KeyCorp reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $120.00 price objective (up previously from $110.00) on shares of Walmart in a report on Friday, November 21st. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on shares of Walmart from $110.00 to $121.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 21st. Tigress Financial upped their target price on shares of Walmart from $125.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 3rd. Finally, Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $123.00 price target (up from $111.00) on shares of Walmart in a research report on Friday, November 21st. Thirty-two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $120.69.

Walmart Trading Down 0.5%

NASDAQ:WMT opened at $111.92 on Wednesday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $108.35 and its 200-day moving average price is $102.86. Walmart Inc. has a 52 week low of $79.81 and a 52 week high of $117.45. The company has a quick ratio of 0.24, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. The stock has a market cap of $892.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.13, a PEG ratio of 5.20 and a beta of 0.64.

Walmart (NASDAQ:WMT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 20th. The retailer reported $0.62 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.60 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $179.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $175.15 billion. Walmart had a net margin of 3.26% and a return on equity of 21.31%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.58 EPS. Walmart has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.580-2.630 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Walmart Inc. will post 2.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Kathryn J. Mclay sold 4,000 shares of Walmart stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $101.63, for a total value of $406,520.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 1,040,455 shares in the company, valued at $105,741,441.65. The trade was a 0.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO C Douglas Mcmillon sold 19,416 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $109.57, for a total transaction of $2,127,411.12. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 4,334,747 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $474,958,228.79. The trade was a 0.45% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 125,628 shares of company stock worth $13,690,065 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.10% of the company’s stock.

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.