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 declared a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, February 21st. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 2.56%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, December 6th. View Wal-Mart Stores' Dividend History.

Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE:WMT) released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May, 18th. The company reported $1.00 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.96 by $0.04. The company earned $116.53 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $117.01 billion. Wal-Mart Stores had a return on equity of 16.96% and a net margin of 2.79%. The business's revenue was up 1.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.98 EPS. View Wal-Mart Stores' Earnings History.

Wal-Mart Stores is scheduled to release their next quarterly earnings announcement on Thursday, August, 17th 2017. View Earnings Estimates for Wal-Mart Stores.

Wal-Mart Stores issued an update on its second quarter earnings guidance on Thursday, May, 18th. The company provided earnings per share guidance of $1.00-1.08 for the period, compared to the Thomson Reuters consensus estimate of $1.07.

31 equities research analysts have issued 1-year price targets for Wal-Mart Stores' shares. Their predictions range from $61.00 to $90.00. On average, they anticipate Wal-Mart Stores' stock price to reach $78.64 in the next twelve months. 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, "Shares of Wal-Mart have outperformed the Retail-Supermarkets industry in the last one year, primarily owing to sturdy earnings history. We note that the company continues to gain from its robust strategies such as price-matching initiative and expanding e-commerce business. Also, its acquisition of four e-commerce businesses since the Jet.com acquisition is in-line with the company’s efforts to grow its online activities. Recently, Wal-Mart extended its partnership with JD.com to integrate the platforms, supply chains and customer resources in China. Furthermore, it is benefiting from the booming online grocery shopping and delivery industry by expanding its business offerings. Notably, it posted positive comps at the U.S. segment for 11 successive quarters now. However, unfavorable currency, soft international revenues and stiff competition pose concerns. Nonetheless, estimates have been stable ahead of the second-quarter earnings." (7/27/2017)
• 2. 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)
• 3. 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)
• 4. Stifel Nicolaus analysts commented, "We are resuming coverage of Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. with a Hold rating and $70 target price, 7.8x F2018E EBITDA. We anticipate U.S. comparable store sales growth of 1%-2% and low single-digit international sales growth to continue through F2019, though we also anticipate overall sales growth below longer-term 3%-4% expectations. We also expect investment levels to remain heightened, including spend on associates, competitive price adjustments, expanding e-commerce, and remodels, constraining EPS and resulting in growth modestly below company expectations in F2018 and F2019. We believe WMT shares trade near fair value, with current valuation not providing adequate risk/reward to overweight, in our view." (1/19/2017)

Wal-Mart Stores saw a increase in short interest in the month of June. As of June 30th, there was short interest totalling 40,611,101 shares, an increase of 12.4% from the June 15th total of 36,130,216 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 13,509,813 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 3.0 days. Currently, 2.8% of the company's stock are sold short.

Some companies that are related to Wal-Mart Stores include Whole Foods Market (WFM), J Sainsbury plc (SBRY), Caseys General Stores (CASY), IRSA Inversiones Y Representaciones S.A. (IRS), SpartanNash Company (SPTN), Cresud S.A.C.I.F. y A. (CRESY), Smart (SFS), Conviviality PLC (CVR), Ingles Markets, Incorporated (IMKTA), Pantry (PTRY), The Fresh Market (TFM) 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 many different of retail and institutional investors. Top institutional investors include Fisher Asset Management LLC (0.19%), Bank of Montreal Can (0.18%), Cullinan Associates Inc. (0.11%), Russell Investments Group Ltd. (0.09%), Hexavest Inc. (0.08%) and US Bancorp DE (0.07%). 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 Acadian Asset Management LLC, Bank of Montreal Can, Russell Investments Group Ltd., Focused Investors LLC, Great West Life Assurance Co. Can, Meag Munich Ergo Kapitalanlagegesellschaft MBH, Hexavest Inc. and Gateway Investment Advisers LLC. 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, S Robson Walton and Steven P Whaley. View Insider Buying and Selling for Wal-Mart Stores.

Wal-Mart Stores' stock was acquired by a variety of institutional investors in the last quarter, including Fisher Asset Management LLC, Aperio Group LLC, ING Groep NV, National Pension Service, Barometer Capital Management Inc., Nepsis Capital Management Inc., Jag Capital Management LLC and Harbour Capital Advisors LLC. 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 $79.78.