Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) to Issue Dividend Increase – $0.24 Per Share

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

Walmart has increased its dividend by an average of 4.2% annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend annually for the last 52 consecutive years. Walmart has a payout ratio of 26.8% indicating that 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 Stock Down 6.5 %

NYSE:WMT opened at $97.22 on Friday. Walmart has a fifty-two week low of $57.60 and a fifty-two week high of $105.30. The stock has a market capitalization of $781.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.90, a P/E/G ratio of 4.40 and a beta of 0.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42, a quick ratio of 0.23 and a current ratio of 0.85. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $95.62 and its 200-day simple moving average is $86.25.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The retailer reported $0.66 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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%. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Walmart will post 2.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Walmart from $98.00 to $108.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Walmart from $97.00 to $112.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, February 10th. StockNews.com cut shares of Walmart from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Walmart from $98.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Walmart from $100.00 to $113.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Walmart has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $101.87.

Insider Activity at Walmart

In related news, Director Robert Edward Jr. Moritz purchased 5,446 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 27th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $91.81 per share, with a total value of $499,997.26. Following the purchase, 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Daniel J. Bartlett sold 1,600 shares of Walmart stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $103.99, for a total transaction of $166,384.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 423,597 shares in the company, valued at $44,049,852.03. This represents a 0.38 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 176,777 shares of company stock valued at $16,570,112. 45.58% of the stock is owned by company 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.