Meridian Wealth Advisors LLC Cuts Stake in Walmart Inc. $WMT

Meridian Wealth Advisors LLC cut its stake in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) by 16.0% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 63,434 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 12,052 shares during the period. Walmart accounts for approximately 1.0% of Meridian Wealth Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 27th largest position. Meridian Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Walmart were worth $6,203,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of WMT. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC grew its stake 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. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in shares of Walmart in the 1st quarter worth $2,532,331,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Walmart by 30.1% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 33,292,749 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $2,922,770,000 after acquiring an additional 7,706,201 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Walmart by 1.4% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 431,817,510 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $42,223,116,000 after acquiring an additional 5,856,468 shares during the period. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in Walmart by 527.1% during the first quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 6,739,038 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $591,620,000 after acquiring an additional 5,664,484 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 26.76% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on WMT shares. Cowen restated a “buy” rating on shares of Walmart in a report on Monday, November 10th. Truist Financial increased their target price on shares of Walmart from $109.00 to $119.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $125.00 price target (up previously from $115.00) on shares of Walmart in a report on Friday. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on shares of Walmart from $110.00 to $121.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on shares of Walmart from $110.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 13th. Thirty-one analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $118.55.

Walmart Stock Performance

Walmart stock opened at $105.29 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $839.46 billion, a PE ratio of 39.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.83 and a beta of 0.67. Walmart Inc. has a one year low of $79.81 and a one year high of $109.57. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $103.52 and its 200 day moving average price is $99.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.23 and a current ratio of 0.79.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 20th. The retailer reported $0.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.60 by $0.02. Walmart had a net margin of 3.08% and a return on equity of 21.45%. The company had revenue of $179.50 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $175.15 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.58 earnings per share. Walmart’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.8% on a year-over-year basis. Walmart has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.580-2.630 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Walmart Inc. will post 2.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other Walmart news, EVP John R. Furner sold 13,125 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $107.78, for a total transaction of $1,414,612.50. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 892,940 shares in the company, valued at $96,241,073.20. This trade represents a 1.45% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Kathryn J. Mclay sold 4,000 shares of Walmart stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $101.63, for a total transaction of $406,520.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 1,040,455 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $105,741,441.65. This trade represents a 0.38% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 137,888 shares of company stock worth $14,241,903 over the last three months. 0.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

About Walmart

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.