Walmart (NYSE:WMT) Releases Quarterly Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.02 EPS

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) issued its earnings results on Thursday. The retailer reported $0.66 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.64 by $0.02, Zacks reports. Walmart had a net margin of 2.92% and a return on equity of 21.78%. Walmart updated its FY 2026 guidance to 2.500-2.600 EPS and its Q1 2026 guidance to 0.570-0.580 EPS.

Walmart Trading Down 6.6 %

Shares of WMT stock traded down $6.83 on Thursday, reaching $97.18. 27,482,755 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 15,465,574. The company has a quick ratio of 0.23, a current ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42. The stock has a market cap of $780.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.39 and a beta of 0.55. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $95.56 and a two-hundred day moving average of $86.17. Walmart has a 1-year low of $57.60 and a 1-year high of $105.30.

Walmart Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 21st will be issued a $0.235 dividend. This represents a $0.94 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.97%. This is a positive change from Walmart’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. Walmart’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 34.06%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Walmart

In other Walmart news, Director Robert Edward Jr. Moritz bought 5,446 shares of Walmart stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 27th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $91.81 per share, for a total transaction of $499,997.26. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 7,805 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $716,577.05. The trade was a 230.86 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP John D. Rainey sold 38,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $98.80, for a total value of $3,754,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 257,281 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $25,419,362.80. This represents a 12.87 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 175,177 shares of company stock valued at $16,403,728. Company insiders own 45.58% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently issued reports on WMT. StockNews.com cut Walmart from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $105.00 price objective on shares of Walmart in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. UBS Group boosted their target price on Walmart from $100.00 to $113.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price target on Walmart from $98.00 to $102.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price objective on Walmart from $98.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $101.87.

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.