Walmart Inc. Plans Quarterly Dividend of $0.24 (NYSE:WMT)

Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) announced a quarterly dividend on Monday, February 24th, Wall Street Journal reports. Investors 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 1.00%. 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 every year for the last 52 years. Walmart has a dividend payout ratio of 30.4% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research 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 Trading Down 1.2 %

Shares of Walmart stock opened at $93.64 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.23. The stock has a market capitalization of $752.21 billion, a PE ratio of 38.85, a P/E/G ratio of 4.42 and a beta of 0.55. Walmart has a 1-year low of $58.18 and a 1-year high of $105.30. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $95.60 and its 200-day simple moving average is $86.89.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 20th. The retailer reported $0.66 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.64 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $180.55 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $178.83 billion. Walmart had a return on equity of 21.87% and a net margin of 2.85%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Walmart will post 2.55 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently commented on WMT shares. Truist Financial raised their price objective on shares of Walmart from $98.00 to $111.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Oppenheimer lifted their target price on Walmart from $100.00 to $110.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on shares of Walmart from $105.00 to $111.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Tigress Financial boosted their target price on shares of Walmart from $86.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $115.00 target price (up from $106.00) on shares of Walmart in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $102.43.

Insider Transactions at Walmart

In other news, EVP Christopher James Nicholas sold 17,600 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $94.42, for a total value of $1,661,792.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 348,357 shares in the company, valued at approximately $32,891,867.94. This represents a 4.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO C Douglas Mcmillon sold 29,124 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $91.44, for a total value 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 approximately $348,825,769.20. The trade was a 0.76 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 194,377 shares of company stock worth $18,231,904. 45.58% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.