Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) Increases Dividend to $0.24 Per Share

Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, February 20th, RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 21st will be given a dividend of 0.235 per share by the retailer on Monday, April 7th. This represents a $0.94 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.97%. This is an increase from Walmart’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21.

Walmart has raised its dividend payment by an average of 4.2% per year over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 52 consecutive years. Walmart has a payout ratio of 26.8% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Walmart to earn $2.74 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 30.3%.

Walmart Price Performance

NYSE WMT opened at $97.22 on Friday. Walmart has a 12 month low of $57.60 and a 12 month high of $105.30. The stock has a market cap of $781.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.90, a PEG ratio of 4.40 and a beta of 0.55. The company’s 50 day moving average is $95.62 and its two-hundred day moving average is $86.25. The company has a current ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 0.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The retailer reported $0.66 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.64 by $0.02. Walmart had a net margin of 2.92% and a return on equity of 21.78%. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Walmart will post 2.48 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Walmart news, CEO C Douglas Mcmillon sold 29,124 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $91.44, for a total transaction of $2,663,098.56. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,814,805 shares in the company, valued at $348,825,769.20. This represents a 0.76 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Daniel J. Bartlett sold 1,600 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $103.99, for a total transaction of $166,384.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 423,597 shares in the company, valued at approximately $44,049,852.03. The trade was a 0.38 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 176,777 shares of company stock valued at $16,570,112 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 45.58% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have commented on WMT shares. Evercore ISI raised their target price on shares of Walmart from $94.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $115.00 price objective (up previously from $106.00) on shares of Walmart in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Roth Mkm lifted their price objective on shares of Walmart from $81.00 to $97.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. DZ Bank cut shares of Walmart from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $91.00 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Finally, KeyCorp lifted their price objective on shares of Walmart from $96.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Walmart has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $101.87.

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.