How to buy Walmart shares

Walmart Inc is a discount stores business with stocks listed in the US. Walmart shares (WMT) are listed on the NYSE and all prices are listed in US Dollars. Its last market close was US$131.95 – a decrease of 4.62% over the previous week. Here's how to invest if you're based in Australia.

How to buy shares in Walmart

1. Compare share trading platforms. To buy shares in a US company from Australia you'll need to find a trading platform that offers access to US stock markets. If you're just starting out, look for a platform with low brokerage and foreign exchange fees.
2. Open and fund your brokerage account. Complete an application with your personal and financial details, like your ID and tax file number. Fund your account with a bank transfer, credit card or debit card.
3. Search for Walmart. Find the share by name or ticker symbol: WMT. Research its history to confirm it's a solid investment against your financial goals.
4. Purchase now or later. Buy today with a market order or use a limit order to delay your purchase until Walmart reaches your desired price. To spread out your risk, look into dollar-cost averaging, which smooths out buying at consistent intervals and amounts.
5. Decide on how many to buy. At last close price of US$131.95, weigh your budget against a diversified portfolio that can minimise risk through the market's ups and downs. You may be able to buy a fractional share of Walmart, depending on your broker.
6. Check in on your investment. Congratulations, you own a part of Walmart. Optimise your portfolio by tracking how your stock — and even the business — performs with an eye on the long term. You may be eligible for dividends and shareholder voting rights on directors and management that can affect your stock.

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Walmart share price

Use our graph to track the performance of WMT stocks over time.

Walmart shares at a glance

• Key figures

Information last updated 2021-03-03.

52-week range	US$100.3253 - US$153.1001
50-day moving average	US$142.1206
200-day moving average	US$142.8421
Target price	US$159.84
PE ratio	27.3916
Dividend yield	US$2.16 (1.64%)
Earnings per share (TTM)	US$4.75

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The value of your investments can fall as well as rise and you may get back less than you invested. Past performance is no indication of future results.

Is it a good time to buy Walmart stock?

The technical analysis gauge below displays real-time ratings for the timeframes you select. This is not a recommendation, however. It represents a technical analysis based on the most popular technical indicators: Moving Averages, Oscillators and Pivots. Finder might not concur and takes no responsibility.

Technical Analysis of Walmart Inc by TradingView

Walmart price performance over time

Historical closes compared with the close of $131.95 on 2021-02-25

1 week (2021-02-23)	N/A
1 month (2021-02-02)	N/A
3 months (2020-12-02)	N/A
6 months (2020-09-02)	N/A

1 year (2020-03-02)	N/A
2 years (2019-03-02)	N/A
3 years (2018-03-02)	N/A
5 years (2016-03-02)	N/A

Is Walmart under- or over-valued?

Valuing Walmart stock is incredibly difficult, and any metric has to be viewed as part of a bigger picture of Walmart's overall performance. However, analysts commonly use some key metrics to help gauge the value of a stock.

Walmart's P/E ratio

Walmart's current share price divided by its per-share earnings (EPS) over a 12-month period gives a "trailing price/earnings ratio" of roughly 27x. In other words, Walmart shares trade at around 27x recent earnings.

That's comparable to, say, the trailing 12-month P/E ratio for the NASDAQ 100 at the end of 2019 (27.29).

Walmart's PEG ratio

Walmart's "price/earnings-to-growth ratio" can be calculated by dividing its P/E ratio by its growth – to give 3.818. A low ratio can be interpreted as meaning the shares offer better value, while a higher ratio can be interpreted as meaning the shares offer worse value.

The PEG ratio provides a broader view than just the P/E ratio, as it gives more insight into Walmart's future profitability. By accounting for growth, it could also help you if you're comparing the share prices of multiple high-growth companies.

Walmart's EBITDA

Walmart's EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation) is US$34.1 billion (£24.6 billion).

The EBITDA is a measure of a Walmart's overall financial performance and is widely used to measure a its profitability.

Walmart financials

Revenue TTM	US$559.2 billion
Operating margin TTM	4.1%
Gross profit TTM	US$138.8 billion
Return on assets TTM	5.86%
Return on equity TTM	16.21%
Profit margin	2.42%
Book value	28.768
Market capitalisation	US$368.1 billion

TTM: trailing 12 months

Shorting Walmart shares

There are currently 12.1 million Walmart shares held short by investors – that's known as Walmart's "short interest". This figure is 19.2% down from 15.0 million last month.

There are a few different ways that this level of interest in shorting Walmart shares can be evaluated.

Walmart's "short interest ratio" (SIR)

Walmart's "short interest ratio" (SIR) is the quantity of Walmart shares currently shorted divided by the average quantity of Walmart shares traded daily (recently around 7.0 million). Walmart's SIR currently stands at 1.74. In other words for every 100,000 Walmart shares traded daily on the market, roughly 1740 shares are currently held short.

However Walmart's short interest can also be evaluated against the total number of Walmart shares, or, against the total number of tradable Walmart shares (the shares that aren't held by "insiders" or major long-term shareholders – also known as the "float"). In this case Walmart's short interest could be expressed as 0% of the outstanding shares (for every 100,000 Walmart shares in existence, roughly 0 shares are currently held short) or 0.0087% of the tradable shares (for every 100,000 tradable Walmart shares, roughly 9 shares are currently held short).

Such a low SIR usually points to an optimistic outlook for the share price, with fewer people currently willing to bet against Walmart.

Find out more about how you can short Walmart stock.

Walmart's environmental, social and governance track record

Environmental, social and governance (known as ESG) criteria are a set of three factors used to measure the sustainability and social impact of companies like Walmart.

When it comes to ESG scores, lower is better, and lower scores are generally associated with lower risk for would-be investors.

Walmart's total ESG risk score

Total ESG risk: 33.72

Socially conscious investors use ESG scores to screen how an investment aligns with their worldview, and Walmart's overall score of 33.72 (as at 01/01/2019) is nothing to write home about – landing it in it in the 55th percentile of companies rated in the same sector.

ESG scores are increasingly used to estimate the level of risk a company like Walmart is exposed to within the areas of "environmental" (carbon footprint, resource use etc.), "social" (health and safety, human rights etc.), and "governance" (anti-corruption, tax transparency etc.).

Walmart's environmental score

Environmental score: 6.47/100

Walmart's environmental score of 6.47 puts it squarely in the 6th percentile of companies rated in the same sector. This could suggest that Walmart is a leader in its sector terms of its environmental impact, and exposed to a lower level of risk.

Walmart's social score

Social score: 20.6/100

Walmart's social score of 20.6 puts it squarely in the 6th percentile of companies rated in the same sector. This could suggest that Walmart is a leader in its sector when it comes to taking good care of its workforce and the communities it impacts.

Walmart's governance score

Governance score: 11.14/100

Walmart's governance score puts it squarely in the 6th percentile of companies rated in the same sector. That could suggest that Walmart is a leader in its sector when it comes to responsible management and strategy, and exposed to a lower level of risk.

Walmart's controversy score

Controversy score: 4/5

ESG scores also evaluate any incidences of controversy that a company has been involved in. Walmart scored a 4 out of 5 for controversy – the second-lowest score possible, reflecting that Walmart has a damaged public profile.

Environmental, social, and governance (ESG) summary

Walmart Inc was last rated for ESG on: 2019-01-01.

Total ESG score	33.72
Total ESG percentile	55.48
Environmental score	6.47
Environmental score percentile	6
Social score	20.6
Social score percentile	6
Governance score	11.14
Governance score percentile	6
Level of controversy	4

Walmart share dividends

Dividend payout ratio: 39.67% of net profits

Recently Walmart has paid out, on average, around 39.67% of net profits as dividends. That has enabled analysts to estimate a "forward annual dividend yield" of 1.69% of the current stock value. This means that over a year, based on recent payouts (which are sadly no guarantee of future payouts), Walmart shareholders could enjoy a 1.69% return on their shares, in the form of dividend payments. In Walmart's case, that would currently equate to about $2.16 per share.

While Walmart's payout ratio might seem fairly standard, it's worth remembering that Walmart may be investing much of the rest of its net profits in future growth.

Walmart's most recent dividend payout was on 3 January 2022. The latest dividend was paid out to all shareholders who bought their shares by 18 March 2021 (the "ex-dividend date").

Have Walmart's shares ever split?

Walmart's shares were split on a 2:1 basis on 20 April 1999. So if you had owned 1 share the day before before the split, the next day you'd have owned 2 shares. This wouldn't directly have changed the overall worth of your Walmart shares – just the quantity. However, indirectly, the new 50% lower share price could have impacted the market appetite for Walmart shares which in turn could have impacted Walmart's share price.

Walmart share price volatility

Over the last 12 months, Walmart's shares have ranged in value from as little as US$100.3253 up to US$153.1001. A popular way to gauge a stock's volatility is its "beta".

Beta is a measure of a share's volatility in relation to the market. The market (NYSE average) beta is 1, while Walmart's is 0.4829. This would suggest that Walmart's shares are less volatile than average (for this exchange).

Walmart overview

Walmart Inc. engages in the retail and wholesale operations in various formats worldwide. The company operates in three segments: Walmart U.S., Walmart International, and Sam's Club. It operates supercenters, supermarkets, hypermarkets, warehouse clubs, cash and carry stores, discount stores, drugstores, and convenience stores; membership-only warehouse clubs; ecommerce websites, such as walmart.com, walmart.com.mx, asda.com, walmart.ca, flipkart.com, and samsclub.com; and mobile commerce applications. The company offers grocery products, including meat, produce, natural and organics, deli and bakery, dairy, frozen foods, alcoholic and nonalcoholic beverages, and floral and dry grocery, as well as consumables, such as health and beauty aids, baby products, household chemicals, paper goods, and pet supplies; and health and wellness products. It also provides electronics, cameras and supplies, photo processing services, wireless, movies, music, video games, and books; stationery, automotive, hardware and paint, sporting goods, and outdoor living and horticulture; apparel for women, girls, men, boys, and infants, as well as shoes, jewelry, and accessories; and home furnishings, housewares and small appliances, bedding, home decor, toys, fabrics, crafts, and seasonal merchandise, as well as brand name merchandise. In addition, the company offers fuel and financial services and related products, including money orders, prepaid cards, money transfers, check cashing, and bill payment. It operates approximately 11,500 stores and various e-commerce Websites under the 56 banners in 27 countries. The company was formerly known as Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. and changed its name to Walmart Inc. in February 2018. Walmart Inc. was founded in 1945 and is based in Bentonville, Arkansas.

Frequently asked questions

• What percentage of Walmart is owned by insiders or institutions?

  Currently 51.069% of Walmart shares are held by insiders and 30.35% by institutions.

• When does the fiscal year end for Walmart?

  Walmart's fiscal year ends in January.

• Where is Walmart based?

  Walmart's address is: 702 SW 8th Street, Bentonville, AR, United States, 72716

• What is Walmart's ISIN number?

  Walmart's international securities identification number is: US9311421039

• What is Walmart's CUSIP number?

  Walmart's Committee on Uniform Securities Identification Procedures number is: 931142103