Heirs of Sam Walton, retail giant Walmart’s (NYSE:WMT) founder, have been on a selling spree of late. Sam Walton’s children Robson Walton, Jim Walton, and Alice Walton have recently sold a significant number of Walmart shares in multiple trades, most recently on March 29 and 30, per SEC filings. Over the recent years, the Walton family has periodically sold their shares to maintain their ownership in Walmart below 50% amid buybacks and to fund charitable contributions.
Robson Walton, who is also a director on Walmart’s board, sold 3.4 million shares for about $494 million through the Walton Family Holdings Trust (Trust) in multiple trades between March 29 and March 30. Following these transactions, Robson Walton has a direct ownership of over 3.22 million Walmart shares.
Sam Walton’s daughter Alice Walton, a more than 10% shareholder, also made a similar transaction on these dates. Following the transaction, Alice Walton holds about 6.75 million Walmart shares directly. Additionally, Jim Walton, a more than 10% shareholder, also made the same transaction as Robson and Alice. He directly owns 10.5 million Walmart shares.
Note that following the aforementioned transactions, the Walton Family Holdings Trust owns more than 245.7 million Walmart shares. Robson, Alice, and Jim are the trustees of this Trust. They are also members of Walton Enterprises, LLC, the entity that owns over 1.0 billion Walmart shares.
Aside from the transactions on March 29 and 30, these three individuals sold Walmart shares on multiple dates this month.
As per TipRanks’ Insider Trading Activity Tool, the Insider Confidence Signal for Walmart is Very Negative based on the transactions made by insiders over the past three months. Generally, insider selling is viewed negatively by investors and indicates that the stock might underperform.
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 Walmart a Good Stock to Buy?
Sale of shares by the Walton family come at when Walmart and other retail players are facing a tough macro backdrop. Last month, Walmart reported better-than-anticipated fiscal fourth quarter results. However, the retailer’s outlook disappointed investors.
Nonetheless, most Wall Street analysts remain bullish about the long-term prospects of Walmart. On Thursday, Evercore analyst Greg Melich upgraded the stock to a Buy from Hold and increased the price target to $160 from $145. Melich sees upside in the company’s traffic and margin over the next two years, fueled by its ominchannel focus, divestiture of non-core assets, and productivity efforts.
Overall, Wall Street has a Strong Buy consensus rating on Walmart based on 22 Buys and four Holds. The average WMT stock price target of $163.74 implies 12.4% upside. Shares have advanced nearly 3% so far in 2023.
