2,678,044 Walmart Inc. $WMT Shares Acquired by International Assets Investment Management LLC

International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its stake in Walmart Inc. (NASDAQ:WMT) by 3,466.6% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 2,755,296 shares of the retailer’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,678,044 shares during the period. Walmart accounts for approximately 2.2% of International Assets Investment Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 4th biggest position. International Assets Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Walmart were worth $286,330,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Gray Private Wealth LLC bought a new stake in Walmart during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $1,378,000. Payden & Rygel increased its position in Walmart by 21.1% in the 3rd quarter. Payden & Rygel now owns 183,860 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $19,107,000 after buying an additional 32,000 shares during the period. CHICAGO TRUST Co NA lifted its holdings in shares of Walmart by 13.4% during the third quarter. CHICAGO TRUST Co NA now owns 48,081 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $4,997,000 after buying an additional 5,663 shares during the last quarter. Partners Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Walmart by 60.3% during the third quarter. Partners Wealth Management LLC now owns 8,888 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $924,000 after buying an additional 3,343 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Harbour Trust & Investment Management Co boosted its position in shares of Walmart by 0.8% in the third quarter. Harbour Trust & Investment Management Co now owns 13,008 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,352,000 after acquiring an additional 103 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 26.76% of the company’s stock.

Key Walmart News

Here are the key news stories impacting Walmart this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Energy investment expands Walmart’s customer offerings: Walmart is making a strategic investment in Base Power and will offer the company’s home battery systems to Walmart customers and Sam’s Club members beginning in November. The systems are designed to reduce energy costs and provide backup power, creating a potential new customer benefit while expanding Walmart’s ecosystem beyond traditional retail. Walmart and Base Power announce strategic agreement
• Positive Sentiment: Major automation agreement with Symbotic: Walmart expanded its commercial relationship with warehouse-automation provider Symbotic in a deal valued at approximately $6 billion. Greater automation could improve fulfillment capacity, labor efficiency and inventory management, although the investment also carries execution and capital-spending risks. Symbotic stock jumps on Walmart automation deal
• Positive Sentiment: Strong fundamentals continue to support the stock: Walmart’s latest quarterly results exceeded consensus estimates for both earnings and revenue, with revenue rising year over year. Analysts and market commentary continue to highlight earnings growth and price strength as reasons to remain constructive on WMT. Earnings growth and price strength make Walmart a stock to watch
• Neutral Sentiment: Healthcare expansion offers a longer-term growth avenue: Walmart has broadened its Better Care Services platform into a healthcare marketplace connecting customers with third-party providers. The initiative could increase customer engagement, but its financial contribution is not yet clear. Walmart launched a healthcare services marketplace
• Negative Sentiment: Competitive and regulatory concerns remain: DoorDash’s proposed $17 billion acquisition of Instacart is intended partly to strengthen competition with Walmart and Amazon in local commerce and grocery delivery. Separately, the FTC is seeking information from Walmart about the use of personal data in personalized pricing, creating potential compliance and reputational risks. FTC orders Walmart and others to share pricing data information
• Negative Sentiment: Valuation comparisons could limit upside: Walmart trades at a substantially higher earnings multiple than Target, while commentary suggests Walmart’s comparable-sales growth may be moderating. That premium leaves the stock more exposed if growth expectations weaken. Target trades at a fraction of Walmart’s valuation

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

WMT has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of Walmart from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $113.00 to $136.00 in a research note on Thursday, October 15th. BTIG Research restated a “buy” rating and issued a $140.00 price target on shares of Walmart in a research report on Thursday, September 10th. Roth Capital restated a “buy” rating on shares of Walmart in a report on Friday, August 21st. Tigress Financial reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $155.00 target price on shares of Walmart in a research note on Monday, August 31st. Finally, Robert W. Baird decreased their price objective on Walmart from $140.00 to $120.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, August 21st. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-three have issued a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Walmart presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $132.41.

Walmart Stock Up 1.9%

WMT opened at $123.51 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $979.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.59, a PEG ratio of 4.38 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a quick ratio of 0.23 and a current ratio of 0.77. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $110.23 and its 200-day simple moving average is $118.40. Walmart Inc. has a twelve month low of $98.88 and a twelve month high of $135.15.

Walmart (NASDAQ:WMT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 20th. The retailer reported $0.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 net margin of 3.00% and a return on equity of 21.83%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.68 EPS. Walmart has set its Q3 2027 guidance at 0.620-0.640 EPS and its FY 2027 guidance at 2.800-2.870 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Walmart Inc. will post 2.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Christopher Nicholas sold 2,900 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $120.60, for a total value of $349,740.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 563,353 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $67,940,371.80. The trade was a 0.51% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, EVP Daniel Danker sold 50,644 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $105.35, for a total value of $5,335,345.40. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 201,672 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,246,145.20. This trade represents a 20.07% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Insiders have sold a total of 102,244 shares of company stock valued at $11,112,044 in the last ninety days. 0.09% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Walmart 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.