Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) to Issue $0.24 Quarterly Dividend

Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) announced a quarterly dividend on Friday, February 21st, Wall Street Journal reports. Investors of record on Friday, December 12th will be given 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 is Friday, December 12th.

Walmart has raised its dividend payment by an average of 4.2% annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 52 consecutive years. Walmart has a payout ratio of 30.4% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. 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 Down 2.6 %

NYSE:WMT opened at $94.70 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $95.63 and a 200-day moving average of $86.44. The firm has a market capitalization of $760.77 billion, a PE ratio of 39.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.42 and a beta of 0.55. Walmart has a 52 week low of $57.77 and a 52 week high of $105.30.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 20th. The retailer reported $0.66 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 net margin of 2.85% and a return on equity of 21.87%. Analysts predict that Walmart will post 2.55 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Walmart

In related news, Director Robert Edward Jr. Moritz purchased 5,446 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 27th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $91.81 per share, for a total transaction of $499,997.26. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 7,805 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $716,577.05. This trade represents a 230.86 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO C Douglas Mcmillon sold 29,124 shares of the company’s 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $348,825,769.20. This represents a 0.76 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 176,777 shares of company stock worth $16,570,112 in the last 90 days. 45.58% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently commented on WMT. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price objective on Walmart from $98.00 to $102.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. Truist Financial boosted their price target on shares of Walmart from $98.00 to $111.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on shares of Walmart from $94.00 to $96.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Walmart from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. Finally, Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Walmart from $98.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 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. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $102.43.

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.