Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) Announces $0.21 Quarterly Dividend

Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) announced a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, February 20th, Wall Street Journal reports. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 10th will be paid a dividend of 0.2075 per share by the retailer on Tuesday, May 28th. This represents a $0.83 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.37%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 9th.

Walmart has raised its dividend by an average of 1.8% annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend every year for the last 52 years. Walmart has a dividend payout ratio of 32.7% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Walmart to earn $2.55 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.83 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 32.5%.

Walmart Price Performance

Shares of NYSE WMT opened at $60.60 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a quick ratio of 0.24 and a current ratio of 0.83. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $60.08 and its 200-day simple moving average is $56.12. The firm has a market capitalization of $488.32 billion, a PE ratio of 31.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.91 and a beta of 0.49. Walmart has a fifty-two week low of $48.34 and a fifty-two week high of $61.65.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 20th. The retailer reported $0.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.55 by $0.05. Walmart had a return on equity of 21.08% and a net margin of 2.39%. The firm had revenue of $173.40 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $170.85 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.57 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Walmart will post 2.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of Walmart to $66.67 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 26th. UBS Group lifted their price target on Walmart from $63.00 to $69.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Stifel Nicolaus restated a “hold” rating on shares of Walmart in a research report on Wednesday, March 13th. Oppenheimer reduced their price target on shares of Walmart to $67.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 26th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their target price on Walmart from $62.00 to $63.33 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 16th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-five have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $61.94.

Insider Transactions at Walmart

In related news, major shareholder Alice L. Walton sold 345,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.93, for a total transaction of $21,020,850.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 652,044,261 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $39,729,056,822.73. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, major shareholder Alice L. Walton sold 345,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.93, for a total value of $21,020,850.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 652,044,261 shares in the company, valued at $39,729,056,822.73. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Jim C. Walton sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.78, for a total value of $117,560.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 656,395,261 shares in the company, valued at approximately $38,582,913,441.58. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 29,019,140 shares of company stock valued at $1,696,045,631 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 46.51% of the company’s stock.

Walmart Company Profile

Walmart Inc engages in the operation of retail, wholesale, other units, and eCommerce worldwide. The company operates through three segments: Walmart U.S., Walmart International, and Sam's Club. It operates supercenters, supermarkets, hypermarkets, warehouse clubs, cash and carry stores, and discount stores under Walmart and Walmart Neighborhood Market brands; membership-only warehouse clubs; ecommerce websites, such as walmart.com.mx, walmart.ca, flipkart.com, PhonePe and other sites; and mobile commerce applications.