Walmart Target of Unusually Large Options Trading (NYSE:WMT)

Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) was the target of unusually large options trading on Wednesday. Stock investors bought 444,313 put options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 242% compared to the average daily volume of 130,014 put options.

Walmart Price Performance

Shares of NYSE WMT opened at $94.12 on Friday. Walmart has a fifty-two week low of $50.21 and a fifty-two week high of $96.18. The company has a market capitalization of $756.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.98, a P/E/G ratio of 4.49 and a beta of 0.54. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $85.56 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $76.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42, a quick ratio of 0.23 and a current ratio of 0.85.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, November 19th. The retailer reported $0.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.53 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $169.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $167.69 billion. Walmart had a net margin of 2.92% and a return on equity of 21.78%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.51 EPS. Analysts expect that Walmart will post 2.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, major shareholder S Robson Walton sold 359,616 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $78.25, for a total transaction of $28,139,952.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 603,989,702 shares in the company, valued at $47,262,194,181.50. The trade was a 0.06 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO C Douglas Mcmillon sold 29,124 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.64, for a total value of $2,348,559.36. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 3,873,053 shares in the company, valued at $312,322,993.92. This trade represents a 0.75 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 2,309,091 shares of company stock worth $183,375,539 in the last quarter. 45.58% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Walmart

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of WMT. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Walmart by 3.3% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 87,617,409 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $7,048,465,000 after purchasing an additional 2,786,061 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its holdings in Walmart by 12.9% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 63,135,639 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $5,098,203,000 after buying an additional 7,200,004 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its position in Walmart by 4.6% in the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 47,659,844 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $3,848,533,000 after acquiring an additional 2,107,197 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Walmart by 3.7% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 41,501,782 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $3,392,658,000 after acquiring an additional 1,480,927 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc grew its position in shares of Walmart by 1.8% during the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 36,282,740 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $2,456,704,000 after acquiring an additional 644,353 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 26.76% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WMT has been the subject of several research analyst reports. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Walmart from $92.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on shares of Walmart from $88.00 to $92.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on Walmart from $77.00 to $83.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 16th. Citigroup upped their price objective on Walmart from $75.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Walmart from $81.00 to $83.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, August 16th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Walmart presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $92.40.

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.