Walmart (NASDAQ:WMT) Stock Falls 1.1% – Time to Sell?

Walmart Inc. (NASDAQ:WMT)’s stock price dropped 1.1% during trading on Thursday. The stock traded as low as $127.39 and last traded at $127.72. 41,568,067 shares were traded during mid-day trading, an increase of 67% from the average session volume of 24,872,256 shares. The stock had previously closed at $129.17.

Key Stories Impacting Walmart

Here are the key news stories impacting Walmart this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Walmart is expanding its drone-delivery partnership with Zipline, which has raised $1.5 billion at a reported $21.5 billion valuation. The move could support faster delivery and strengthen Walmart’s logistics capabilities. Zipline valuation and Walmart drone partnership
• Positive Sentiment: Walmart’s partnership with Meta to bring the Muse AI shopping agent to its online retail experience could help customers discover and buy products through Meta platforms. Walmart and Meta’s AI shopping agent
• Positive Sentiment: A reported $6 billion Symbotic deal to automate warehouses could improve operational efficiency over time. Walmart warehouse automation deal
• Neutral Sentiment: Walmart CTO Suresh Kumar sold 166,342 shares, while EVP Daniel Bartlett sold 3,346 shares. The disclosed trades were made under pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plans, which may temper their significance as a signal about management’s outlook. Report on Suresh Kumar’s share sale
• Negative Sentiment: Walmart’s high valuation—cited in recent commentary at roughly 45 times earnings—could leave the stock vulnerable if growth disappoints. One article also notes that management previously warned of a possible slowdown. Walmart valuation and outlook commentary
• Negative Sentiment: AI shopping agents could put pressure on Walmart’s advertising revenue and access to customer data if they change how shoppers browse and purchase. Walmart’s Meta partnership offers a way to participate in this shift, but the business risks remain. AI shopping agents and retailer advertising risks

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised Walmart from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $113.00 to $136.00 in a research report on Thursday, October 15th. Oppenheimer reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Walmart in a report on Tuesday, August 25th. Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $128.00 target price (down from $137.00) on shares of Walmart in a report on Friday, August 21st. Tigress Financial restated a “buy” rating and issued a $155.00 price target on shares of Walmart in a report on Monday, August 31st. Finally, Truist Financial set a $114.00 price objective on shares of Walmart and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 21st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-two have given a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $132.41.

Walmart Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a current ratio of 0.77 and a quick ratio of 0.23. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $111.56 and a 200-day moving average price of $118.51. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.01 trillion, a PE ratio of 46.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.51 and a beta of 0.53.

Walmart (NASDAQ:WMT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 20th. The retailer reported $0.81 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $187.94 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $186.64 billion. Walmart had a return on equity of 21.83% and a net margin of 3.00%. Walmart’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.68 earnings per share. Walmart has set its Q3 2027 guidance at 0.620-0.640 EPS and its FY 2027 guidance at 2.800-2.870 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Walmart Inc. will post 2.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Daniel Bartlett sold 3,990 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $104.41, for a total transaction of $416,595.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 618,359 shares in the company, valued at approximately $64,562,863.19. This represents a 0.64% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO John Furner sold 13,125 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $106.66, for a total transaction of $1,399,912.50. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 647,912 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $69,106,293.92. The trade was a 1.99% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 268,222 shares of company stock worth $31,604,051 over the last 90 days. 0.09% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in WMT. Bell & Brown Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in Walmart during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $6,451,000. Advisortrust Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Walmart by 20.2% in the 1st quarter. Advisortrust Partners LLC now owns 67,142 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $8,344,000 after acquiring an additional 11,283 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE acquired a new position in shares of Walmart in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $7,455,131,000. HORAN Wealth LLC grew its position in shares of Walmart by 55.7% in the 1st quarter. HORAN Wealth LLC now owns 81,544 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $9,931,000 after acquiring an additional 29,184 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Park National Corp OH increased its holdings in shares of Walmart by 282.9% in the 3rd quarter. Park National Corp OH now owns 119,865 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $12,456,000 after acquiring an additional 88,562 shares during the last quarter. 26.76% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Walmart Company Profile

Walmart Inc (NASDAQ:WMT) operates a global retail business through a network of supercenters, supermarkets, discount stores, neighborhood markets, warehouse clubs and e-commerce platforms. Its stores and websites sell a broad assortment of merchandise, including groceries, consumables, health and wellness products, apparel, electronics, home goods, toys and other general merchandise.

The company organizes its operations into Walmart U.S., Walmart International and Sam’s Club U.S. Walmart U.S.