The Walton family has placed informative sells of shares in retail giant Walmart (WMT) worth $1 billion in just one month.
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Informative sells can often be taken as an indication that the insider believes the stock price of the company is set to head downwards. However, an insider might sell shares for other reasons, such as financial or personal obligations.
Waltons Actively Selling
The Walton Family Holdings – the family of founder Sam Walton – sold 3,279,000 shares at a value of $402,994,469 on March 26.
This was on top of the family selling 2,779,586 shares at a value of $344,719,912 on March 11. The family also sold 1,064,907 shares at a value of $136,448,759 on March 4.
In addition, the family also sold 1,723,236 shares at a value of $220,123,332 on February 27 and 1,269,271 shares at a value of $159,830,035 on February 25.
The WMT stock is currently trading at $123.30, up 11% in the year-to-date – see below:
That may have prompted the family to decide now was a good time to cash in on some profit-taking.
Walmart Weakness?
Walmart recently reported that full-year sales grew approximately 5% in constant currency, adding $35 billion and exceeding $700 billion in revenue for the first time; adjusted operating income grew 5.4% for the year.
Global e-commerce grew 24% for the fourth quarter and nearly 25% for the year; e-commerce exceeded $150 billion for the first time.
However, management set a cautious FY27 guide with sales growth 3.5-4.5% at constant currency; and operating income growth around 6-8% citing risks like hiring softness, consumer sentiment, student loan delinquencies and tariff timing. That was before the Iran war and risk of an inflation spike.
WMT stock currently has a negative investor confidence signal on TipRanks. As can be seen above, that is better than the sector average. It is important to keep an eye on the Informative trades of corporate insiders, given their knowledge of a company’s growth potential.
TipRanks offers daily insider transactions as well as a list of top corporate insiders. It also provides a list of hot stocks that boast either a Very Positive or Positive insider confidence signal.
Is WMT a Good Stock to Buy Now?
On TipRanks, WMT has a Strong Buy consensus based on 26 Buy and 3 Hold ratings. Its highest price target is $150. WMT stock’s consensus price target is $138.92, implying a 12.53% upside.
