Randall Stephenson, a director at Walmart (WMT), recently picked up 7,725 shares. The buy came to a total purchase price of $1.2 million, and increased the director’s holdings by over 1,300 percent.
This is the first insider buy in over three years. Insiders, typically members of the Walton family but also some executives, have exclusively been sellers in the past three years. Even with the large, regular sales by company insiders, they still own over 51 percent of shares.
Shares of the big box retailer are up 15 percent over the past year, fueled by pandemic trends and the company’s shift to e-commerce and other trends. As the market has attracted reopening trends, shares of Walmart have recently slid to over six-months lows.
Action to take: Shares have gotten oversold and are already starting to trend higher. Even with an economic reopening, Walmart’s customer base is likely to stick until the economy is closer to full employment.
Investors can pick up shares here and grab a 1.6 percent dividend yield. While not high, it has a history of growing, and the company did raise the payout four cents during the pandemic.
For traders, the June $135 calls, going for about $5.35, offer mid-to-high double-digit returns from here if the current uptrend in shares is just beginning.