Walmart Inc. (WMT) To Go Ex-Dividend on December 12th

Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) declared a quarterly dividend on Friday, February 21st, Wall Street Journal reports. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 12th will be paid a dividend of 0.235 per share by the retailer on Monday, January 5th. This represents a $0.94 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.99%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 12th.

Walmart has increased 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 dividend payout ratio of 30.4% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Walmart to earn $3.02 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.94 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 31.1%.

Walmart Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE WMT opened at $94.70 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.23, a current ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40. The business’s 50 day moving average is $95.63 and its two-hundred day moving average is $86.57. The company has a market cap of $760.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.30, a P/E/G ratio of 4.42 and a beta of 0.55. Walmart has a 12 month low of $57.77 and a 12 month high of $105.30.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 20th. The retailer reported $0.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.64 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $180.55 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $178.83 billion. Walmart had a return on equity of 21.87% and a net margin of 2.85%. On average, equities analysts expect that Walmart will post 2.55 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price objective on Walmart from $109.00 to $107.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on Walmart from $105.00 to $111.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Tigress Financial boosted their price objective on Walmart from $86.00 to $115.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price objective on Walmart from $98.00 to $102.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. Finally, Citigroup reiterated a “positive” rating on shares of Walmart in a research report on Thursday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $102.43.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO C Douglas Mcmillon sold 29,124 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 27th. The stock was 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 owns 3,814,805 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $348,825,769.20. This represents a 0.76 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Daniel J. Bartlett sold 1,830 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $91.07, for a total value of $166,658.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 460,705 shares in the company, valued at $41,956,404.35. The trade was a 0.40 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 176,777 shares of company stock valued at $16,570,112 over the last 90 days. 45.58% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

About Walmart

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.