America’s largest retailer and a distinction

It also owns and operates the Cam’s Club retail warehouse in North America. Wall-Mart was the most profitable retailer in the US, and by November 1990, it outsold K-mart.

By 1991 it outsold Sears in retail, making it America’s largest retailer and a distinction it still holds. Wall-Mart has 8, 500 stores in 15 countries, under 55 different names. (Wisped, 2013) Currently Wall-Mart operates over 50 retail facilities globally. Also, the company is the dominant retail store in Canada, Mexico, and the United Kingdom. Wall-Mart holds the number one spot, ranked by its total sales. The company is ranked as the second most admired many in the world by Fortune. Wall-Mart provides general merchandise such as family apparel, health, beauty aids, household needs, electronics, toys, fabrics, crafts, lawn and garden, jewelry and shoes. Also, the company runs a pharmacy department, Tire & Lube Express, and photo processing center as well.

Wall-Mart’s impact on independently owned stores and its treatment of employees have drawn the company into the political realm. Labor unions have made the organization of Wall-Mart employees a top priority. Company’s mission is to save people money so they can live better. Their main core value is to respect every individual and provide exceptional customer service. These values has helped Wall-Mart to compete globally and to gain leadership in the market since customers are more conscientious these days. (Wall-Mart Stores, Inc. , 2013) Wall-Mart board’s approved a dividend of $1.

59 per share for fiscal 2013, which ends next January, up from $1. 46 last year. That equates to paying about $5.

52 billion to shareholders. The family of founder Sam Walton stands to get about half of that payout, as it owns close to 50 percent of Wall-Mart’s outstanding shares through various entities. Wall-Mart has been a big buyer of its shares, spending $6. 3 billion on buybacks during fiscal 2012.

Wall-Mart has raised its payout every year since it first declared a dividend of 5 cents per share in 1974. The latest increase comes after a 20. 7 percent hike a year ago and this year shares of Wall-Mart fell 1. 1 percent. Currently, Wall-Mart is trading at $78. 50/share. Recently, the stock has performed strongly.

Year-to-date Wall-Mart is up over 15% and over the last 52 weeks the stock is up over 32%. In addition to this stock appreciation, Wall-Mart also pays a quarterly dividend of $. 7/share. Based on today’s market price, this translates to an annual yield of 2. 40%. The dividend policy is the company’s commitment to raising the payout consistently.

Wall- Mart has never decreased its dividend and the company has been paying dividends for about 25 years. Wall-Mart earn $4. 44 per share in 2011 and $4. 88 per share in 2012. This would be a nice increase from the $4. 1 8/share the company earned in 2010. On average the company has managed to repurchase 2. 20% of its stock annually over the past decade.

Wall-Mart has one of the largest and most consistent stock buyback programs in the US.