Here are key updates for dividend investors: Walmart, Transcontinental & Microsoft

Article Excerpt

WALMART INC. $161 is a buy. The company (New York symbol WMT; Conservative Growth Dividend Payer Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 2.7 billion; Market cap: $434.7 billion; Dividend yield: 1.4%; Dividend Sustainability Rating: Highest; www.walmart.com) is the world’s largest retailer, with 10,500 outlets in 19 countries. With the April 2023 payment, Walmart raised your quarterly dividend by 1.8%. Investors receive $0.57 a share instead of $0.56. The new annual rate of $2.28 yields 1.4%. The company recently announced that it would spend $9 billion over the next two years to modernize 1,400 stores in the U.S. The plan is working: the stores that have already been renovated are generating same-store sales increases as high as 20%. The retail giant should earn $6.44 a share for the fiscal year ending January 31, 2024; the stock trades at 25.0 times that estimate. That’s an acceptable p/e in light of the company’s high market share and fast-growing online business. Walmart is a buy. TRANSCONTINENTAL INC. $13 is still a buy. Canada’s largest commercial…