Wal-Mart Stores Company Profile (NYSE:WMT)

Wal-Mart Stores trades on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) under the ticker symbol "WMT."

Wal-Mart Stores announced a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, February 21st. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 8th will be given a dividend of $0.51 per share on Tuesday, January 2nd. This represents a $2.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.37%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, December 6th. View Wal-Mart Stores' Dividend History.

Wal-Mart Stores announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, October 11th 2017, which permits the company to buyback $20,000,000,000.00 in shares, according to EventVestor. This buyback authorization permits the company to reacquire shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are typically a sign that the company's management believes its stock is undervalued.

Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE:WMT) posted its earnings results on Thursday, August, 17th. The company reported $1.08 EPS for the quarter, topping the Zacks' consensus estimate of $1.07 by $0.01. The business earned $123.40 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $121.86 billion. Wal-Mart Stores had a return on equity of 16.87% and a net margin of 2.60%. Wal-Mart Stores's revenue was up 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.07 EPS. View Wal-Mart Stores' Earnings History.

Wal-Mart Stores is scheduled to release their next quarterly earnings announcement on Thursday, November, 16th 2017. View Earnings Estimates for Wal-Mart Stores.

Wal-Mart Stores updated its FY19 earnings guidance on Tuesday, October, 10th. The company provided EPS guidance of $4.52-4.62 for the period, compared to the Thomson Reuters consensus EPS estimate of $4.62. The company issued revenue guidance of up 3% or more, compared to the consensus revenue estimate of $504.54 billion.Wal-Mart Stores also updated its FY18 guidance to $4.30-4.40 EPS.

32 brokerages have issued 12 month price targets for Wal-Mart Stores' stock. Their forecasts range from $62.00 to $100.00. On average, they anticipate Wal-Mart Stores' share price to reach $84.70 in the next year. View Analyst Ratings for Wal-Mart Stores.

Here are some recent quotes from research analysts about Wal-Mart Stores stock:

• 1. According to Zacks Investment Research, "Share price of Walmart has outperformed the industry in the past one year, as the company is pushing itself to understand the evolving needs of its customers and expand itself in both brick-and-mortar space as well as e-commerce activities. On one hand, the company is posting positive comps at Walmart U.S. for 12 successive quarters; while on the other hand, it is also building its e-commerce capabilities through acquisitions and growing in the online grocery and delivery market. The company therefore expects sales to rise approximately 3% during fiscal 2019, backed by the sustained growth in comps and e-commerce. However, the company still faces headwinds such as unfavorable currency, stiff competition from both brick & mortar and online retailers and huge expenses related to e-commerce investments. Nevertheless, the company makes efforts to offset these headwinds with its initiatives to boost sales." (10/18/2017)
• 2. Oppenheimer Holdings, Inc. analysts commented, "fresher than it's been in years."Walmart is in the early stages of developing what could prove to be a "model" omni-channel structure, the analyst explained. For instance, the acquisition of Jet.com is just one of many "meaningful step forward" to solidify its status a "proven industry innovator" with many "unique capabilities." So far, there are early encouraging signs of growth in the online channel as gross merchandise volume accelerated to 69 percent on a year-over-year basis.Meanwhile, Walmart isn't neglecting its physical stores and has many initiatives ahead to spur growth, including:Online grocery shopping and collect in store.Two-day shipping with a $35 minimum from stores.Home delivery experiments.Also, improving food inflation trends could help boost top-line growth.Finally, the entrance of the Germany-based budget grocery chain Lidl to the U.S. market shouldn't cause investors to worry. Walmart was able to respond very aggressively to sustain its market position through pricing and merchandising fronts."In our view, WMT, more than many other leading chains, now recognizes an opportunity to leverage the key attributes that fuel its dominance in physical retail, in the digital world and increasingly go 'toe to toe' with eCommerce leaders such as amazon.com," (8/2/2017)
• 3. BMO Capital Markets analysts commented, "We still see many challenges ahead, including emerging competition from hard discounters and an adverse margin mix from growth in e-commerce, but we see a path of better relative sales and transaction growth over the next 12 months that is unlikely to cause the stock to underperform," (5/19/2017)
• 4. Wells Fargo & Company analysts commented, "We view WMT’s 7%+ FCF yield as attractive, but we see risk/reward more balanced at 7.6x NTM EV/EBITDA (in line with 5/10-year avg.) as incremental comp improvement gets harder from here, macro and tax overhangs remain, and the need for reinvestment could delay a return to profit growth to FY19 and beyond.  Marc Lore making his mark. WMT continues to shake up its ecom platform, which contributed +40bps to the WMT US comp, with global e-commerce sales and GMV (gross merch. value) increasing +15.5%/+17.5% (GMV +29.7% ex. Yihaodian). During the Q, several strategic moves came to light, including a larger stake in China’s JD.com to 12% and initiatives: 1) combining U.S. store and online procurement efforts, allowing WMT to better leverage its scale across platforms; 2) implementing free 2-day shipping ($35 min.) in the U.S. on the heels of recent ecom fulfillment investments; and 3) tuck-in acquisitions of Shoebuy and Moosejaw in order to widen WMT’s U.S. merchandising depth and category assortment. We view WMT’s ecom initiatives as the right long-term strategy, but we see a multi-year investment period in which profitability likely yields to ongoing store and ecommerce upgrades." (2/21/2017)

Wal-Mart Stores saw a increase in short interest during the month of September. As of September 29th, there was short interest totalling 43,736,298 shares, an increase of 3.4% from the September 15th total of 45,267,333 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 7,527,809 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 5.8 days. Currently, 3.0% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Some companies that are related to Wal-Mart Stores include J Sainsbury plc (SBRY), Caseys General Stores (CASY), IRSA Inversiones Y Representaciones S.A. (IRS), Cresud S.A.C.I.F. y A. (CRESY), SpartanNash Company (SPTN), Conviviality PLC (CVR), Smart (SFS), Ingles Markets, Incorporated (IMKTA), Pantry (PTRY), The Fresh Market (TFM), Whole Foods Market (WFM) and Whole Foods Market (WFMI).

Wal-Mart Stores' management team includes the folowing people:

• Greg Boyd Penner, Chairman of the Board
• C. Douglas McMillon, President, Chief Executive Officer, Director
• M. Brett Biggs, Chief Financial Officer, Executive Vice President
• Rollin L. Ford, Chief Administrative Officer, Executive Vice President
• Jeffrey J. Gearhart, Executive Vice President - Global Governance, Corporate Secretary
• Neil M. Ashe, Executive Vice President, President and Chief Executive Officer - Global eCommerce and Technology
• Daniel J. Bartlett, Executive Vice President, Corporate Affairs
• Jacqueline P. Canney, Executive Vice President - Global People
• David Cheesewright, Executive Vice President, President and Chief Executive Officer - International Division
• Gregory S. Foran, Executive Vice President, President and Chief Executive Officer - Walmart U.S. division

Wal-Mart Stores' stock is owned by a variety of of institutional and retail investors. Top institutional investors include First National Bank of Mount Dora Trust Investment Services (0.00%), Bridges Investment Management Inc. (0.00%), Park National Corp OH (0.00%), Eqis Capital Management Inc. (0.00%), Fulton Bank N.A. (0.00%) and Beacon Financial Group (0.00%). Company insiders that own Wal-Mart Stores stock include Alice L Walton, C Douglas Mcmillon, David Cheesewright, David Chojnowski, Jacqueline P Canney, Jeffrey J Gearhart, Jim C Walton, Rollin L Ford, Rosalind G Brewer, S Robson Walton, Steven P Whaley and Timothy Patrick Flynn. View Institutional Ownership Trends for Wal-Mart Stores.

Wal-Mart Stores' stock was sold by a variety of institutional investors in the last quarter, including Bridges Investment Counsel Inc., Beacon Financial Group, Private Asset Management Inc., Bridges Investment Management Inc., Park National Corp OH and Hefty Wealth Partners. Company insiders that have sold Wal-Mart Stores stock in the last year include Alice L Walton, C Douglas Mcmillon, David Cheesewright, David Chojnowski, Jacqueline P Canney, Jeffrey J Gearhart, Jim C Walton, Rosalind G Brewer and S Robson Walton. View Insider Buying and Selling for Wal-Mart Stores.

Wal-Mart Stores' stock was bought by a variety of institutional investors in the last quarter, including First National Bank of Mount Dora Trust Investment Services, Fulton Bank N.A. and Eqis Capital Management Inc.. View Insider Buying and Selling for Wal-Mart Stores.

Shares of Wal-Mart Stores can be purchased through any online brokerage account. Popular online brokerages include Vanguard Brokerage Services, TD Ameritrade, E*TRADE, Scottrade, Fidelity and Charles Schwab.

One share of Wal-Mart Stores stock can currently be purchased for approximately $86.22.