Walmart will still shine even after COVID

Article Excerpt

Walmart has held up well during the COVID-19 pandemic as consumers flock to its stores to stock up on essential groceries and other items. The surge has also helped draw more customers to its online business. We feel these customers will keep coming back post-COVID, which will let Walmart keep increasing its dividend. WALMART INC. $132 is a buy. Investors in this company (New York symbol WMT; Conservative Growth Dividend Payer Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares o/s: 2.8 billion; Market cap: $369.6 billion; Dividend yield: 1.6%; Divd. Sustainability Rating: Highest; www.walmart.com) own a piece of the world’s biggest retailer: it has 11,500 outlets operating under 56 banners in 27 countries. The company has increased its annual dividend rate each year since 1974. With the April 2020 payment, Walmart raised your quarterly dividend by 1.9%. Investors now receive $0.54 a share instead of $0.53. The new annual rate of $2.16 yields a solid 1.6%. Over the past five years, the company’s revenue rose 8.7%, from $482.1 billion in 2016…