Lodestar Private Asset Management LLC Cuts Stake in Walmart Inc. $WMT

Lodestar Private Asset Management LLC reduced its position in shares of Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) by 2.5% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 10,942 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 275 shares during the quarter. Lodestar Private Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Walmart were worth $1,070,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in 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 last quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC raised its holdings in 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 in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its holdings in Walmart by 30.1% in 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 in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its holdings in Walmart by 1.3% in 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in Walmart by 2.9% in 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 in the last quarter. 26.76% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Walmart

In related news, EVP Kathryn J. Mclay sold 4,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $103.83, for a total transaction of $415,320.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 1,048,455 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $108,861,082.65. This represents a 0.38% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP John D. Rainey sold 2,200 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $101.33, for a total transaction of $222,926.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 621,718 shares in the company, valued at $62,998,684.94. This trade represents a 0.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 151,232 shares of company stock worth $15,083,877 in the last ninety days. 0.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have commented on the stock. Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of Walmart from $120.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 17th. Oppenheimer upped their price objective on shares of Walmart from $110.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 13th. Evercore ISI restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $110.00 price objective (up from $108.00) on shares of Walmart in a report on Monday, August 18th. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on shares of Walmart in a report on Thursday, September 18th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $129.00 price objective for the company. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on shares of Walmart from $101.00 to $114.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 22nd. Thirty analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Walmart currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $112.38.

Walmart Stock Up 0.1%

Shares of Walmart stock opened at $101.86 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.79 and a quick ratio of 0.23. The company has a 50-day moving average of $101.22 and a 200 day moving average of $97.34. The firm has a market cap of $812.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.29, a PEG ratio of 4.80 and a beta of 0.67. Walmart Inc. has a 1 year low of $79.37 and a 1 year high of $106.11.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 21st. The retailer reported $0.68 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $174.02 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.67 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter 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, sell-side analysts anticipate that Walmart Inc. will post 2.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Walmart Company 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.