Walmart keeps rewarding investors

Article Excerpt

Walmart’s shares have doubled in the past five years. That includes an 11% gain in the last year as governments designated its stores “essential” during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic. Even though those restrictions are easing, we expect Walmart’s focus on low prices will continue to drive customer traffic and sales. The company is also aggressively investing in its online shopping businesses. That will help it compete with Amazon.com as it expands into fresh groceries. We expect these investments will continue to spur the stock—and your dividends. WALMART INC. $142 is a buy. The stock (New York symbol WMT; Conservative Growth Dividend Payer Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 2.8 billion; Market cap: $397.6 billion; Dividend yield: 1.5%; Dividend Sustainability Rating: Highest; www.walmart.com) lets you tap the world’s biggest retailer, which has 10,526 outlets in 24 countries. Those stores serve a total of 220 million customers each week. Walmart’s 4,743 locations in the U.S. supply 67% of its total sales. The company…