Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE:WMT) declared a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, February 21st, Wall Street Journal reports. Investors of record on Friday, August 11th will be given a dividend of 0.51 per share by the retailer on Tuesday, September 5th. This represents a $2.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.52%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, August 9th.
Wal-Mart Stores has increased its dividend payment by an average of 12.2% annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 42 consecutive years. Wal-Mart Stores has a dividend payout ratio of 46.8% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Wal-Mart Stores to earn $4.59 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.04 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 44.4%.
Wal-Mart Stores (NYSE:WMT) opened at 80.87 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $76.55 and a 200-day moving average price of $73.51. Wal-Mart Stores has a 52-week low of $65.28 and a 52-week high of $81.76. The firm has a market cap of $243.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.36 and a beta of 0.29.
Wal-Mart Stores (NYSE:WMT) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 18th. The retailer reported $1.00 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.96 by $0.04. Wal-Mart Stores had a return on equity of 16.96% and a net margin of 2.79%. The firm had revenue of $116.53 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $117.01 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.98 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 1.3% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Wal-Mart Stores will post $4.36 EPS for the current year.
In other Wal-Mart Stores news, Director S Robson Walton sold 3,000,000 shares of Wal-Mart Stores stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $79.25, for a total transaction of $237,750,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 3,344,956 shares in the company, valued at approximately $265,087,763. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider David Cheesewright sold 25,729 shares of Wal-Mart Stores stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $76.65, for a total value of $1,972,127.85. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 23,006,720 shares of company stock valued at $1,816,131,604 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 51.39% of the company’s stock.
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Several research analysts recently commented on the company. Vetr cut Wal-Mart Stores from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $80.69 price target for the company. in a research report on Monday, June 19th. Royal Bank Of Canada restated a “sell” rating and issued a $67.00 price objective on shares of Wal-Mart Stores in a research note on Tuesday, May 2nd. Jefferies Group LLC upped their price objective on Wal-Mart Stores from $86.00 to $88.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 12th. BidaskClub lowered Wal-Mart Stores from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 20th. Finally, Morgan Stanley set a $77.00 price objective on Wal-Mart Stores and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, May 29th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eighteen have given a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Wal-Mart Stores currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $78.80.
Wal-Mart Stores Company Profile
Wal-Mart Stores, Inc is engaged in the operation of retail, wholesale and other units in various formats around the world. The Company operates through three segments: Walmart U.S., Walmart International and Sam’s Club. The Walmart U.S. segment includes its mass merchant concept in the United States operating under the Walmart or Wal-Mart brands, as well as digital retail.
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