Randall Stephenson, a director at Walmart (WMT), recently purchased 7,245 shares. The buy increased his holdings by 58 percent, and came to a cost of $1,000,168.
This marks the first insider buy at the company in the past two years. Otherwise, insiders have been regular sellers of shares. Those sales have been dominated by members of the Walton family, who are still major holders of the stock, but a few company executives have sold as well.
Overall, Walmart insiders still own 48 percent of the company.
The discount retailer’s shares are down about 3 percent over the past year, far outperforming the S&P 500 in general. Earnings have jumped 76 percent, and revenues are up 7 percent.
With that strong relative performance, shares are trading for about 23 times forward earnings, about in-line with how shares have historically been priced by the market.
Action to take: Walmart is likely to pick up market share for consumer spending in a slowing economy. Shares fared well last year, and also in the crisis year of 2008.
Shares yield about 1.6 percent right now, with regular dividend increases, which make for a reasonable buy at today’s prices – just look for a sale on shares to buy more.
For traders, the June $145 calls, last going for about $4.35, offer mid-double-digit returns in the coming months on a move higher in Walmart stock.
Disclosure: The author of this article has no position in the company mentioned here, but may trade after the next 72 hours. The author receives no compensation from any of the companies mentioned in this article.