Walmart's short interest has fallen 11% over the past month to 0.89% of float, while Wall Street raised price targets following solid operational momentum. The stock gained 1.9% this week to close at $129.92, with analysts now projecting 5% upside.
Walmart closed at $129.92 on April 24, down 1.6% on the day but up 1.9% for the week. The stock has climbed 6.4% over the past month. The retailer sits near the upper end of its recent trading range as it approaches earnings in three weeks.
Short interest fell to 70.6 million shares as of April 23. This represents just 0.89% of the free float. SI has dropped 10.6% over the past month, down from 79.5 million shares in mid-March — the lowest level since late March. The week-over-week decline was 2.1%.
Cost to borrow remains minimal at 0.31%, though it has edged up 14% over 30 days. Utilisation sits at just 1.17%, well below the 52-week peak of 10.49% reached in mid-March. Shares have become easier to borrow after that March spike — utilisation has been under 1.5% every day this month except for April 14.
The put/call ratio sits at 1.06, in line with the 20-day mean of 1.05. The z-score is a modest 0.30, indicating neither extreme bullish nor bearish positioning. PCR has ranged from 0.72 to 1.68 over the past year — current levels reflect neutral sentiment.
WMT carries a Buy consensus with 28 Buy ratings. The mean price target is $136.35, implying modest upside from current levels.
Morgan Stanley's Simeon Gutman raised his target to $140 from $135 on April 22, maintaining Overweight. Guggenheim's John Heinbockel lifted his Buy target to $137 from $120 on April 13.
Following the February earnings print, a wave of upgrades arrived. UBS analyst Michael Lasser boosted his target to $147 from $135 on February 20. DA Davidson's Michael Baker matched that $150 target, up from $135. TD Cowen's Oliver Chen went to $145 from $136. Truist's Scot Ciccarelli moved to $139 from $127.
Tigress Financial's Ivan Feinseth set the highest target at $150 on February 25, up from $135.
Wall Street's bull case centers on robust financial performance — revenue rose 4.7% year-over-year to $713.16 billion for the 12 months ending January 2026. eCommerce sales jumped 27%, driven by store-fulfilled pickup and delivery. A new $30 billion buyback authorization and a 5% dividend increase signal management confidence.
The bear case notes NOPAT fell 1.8% year-over-year and EBITDAR declined 5.2%. Return on capital dropped from 14.6% to 12.7%, flagging potential capital inefficiency. Unaccounted tariff costs and rising legal expenses could pressure margins.
The P/E ratio stands at 43.6, up 2.6 points over 30 days. Price-to-book reached 9.2, climbing 0.55 over the month. EV/EBITDA sits at 22.1, up 0.14.
Walmart scores in the 95th percentile for dividend quality. The EPS momentum 90-day rank is strong at 76, while the 30-day rank is 49. The short score ranks 52nd percentile. EV/EBIT sits in the 8th percentile, signaling a relatively expensive valuation on that metric. Analyst recommendation differential ranks just 8th percentile.
The Walton Family reduced its stake by 12.4 million shares to 513.5 million as of March 25 — a 2.4% trim but still 6.4% of shares outstanding.
Vanguard added 4.3 million shares to 440 million (5.5% of shares) as of March 31. BlackRock increased by 6.1 million to 349 million (4.4%). State Street grew its position by 2.1 million to 184.7 million (2.3%).
Geode Capital added 6.5 million shares to 103 million. JP Morgan Asset Management boosted holdings by 6.8 million to 78.9 million.
Millennium Management made the most dramatic move, adding 36.9 million shares to reach 42.4 million — a near-doubling of the hedge fund's stake.
Over the past 90 days, insiders sold a net 6.9 million shares worth $853 million.
Recent executive sales include President/CEO John Furner selling $1.64 million of stock on April 16 across two transactions at $124.63 and $125.06. EVP Christopher Nicholas sold $361,700 on April 16. EVP Daniel Bartlett sold $166,400 on April 15.
These transactions represent routine equity compensation activity, with significance scores of 1–2 on a 10-point scale.
Walmart reports earnings on May 14 at 11:00 AM ET. The quarterly print will reveal whether the eCommerce momentum cited by analysts has continued and how tariff and cost pressures are playing out.
See the live data behind this article on ORTEX.
Open WMT on ORTEX →ORTEX Market Intelligence content is generated by AI from a snapshot of ORTEX's proprietary data. Content is informational only and does not constitute investment advice.
