Walmart’s 3-for-1 stock split: What to know

Walmart’s three-for-one stock split is effective Monday, easing the barrier for employees and investors to buy shares. 

The world’s biggest retailer and the largest U.S. employer said the stock split is part of its “ongoing review of optimal trading and spread levels and its desire for its associates to feel that purchasing shares is easily within reach.” 

Walmart CEO Doug McMillon said in a statement that the move follows the mission of the retailer’s founder. 

“Sam Walton believed it was important to keep our share price in a range where purchasing whole shares, rather than fractions, was accessible to all of our associates,” McMillon wrote.

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With a three-for-one stock split, each old share becomes equal to three shares. In turn, the price per share becomes cheaper. So far this year, shares are up more than 11%, outpacing the S&P 500’s nearly 7% rise. Shares are trading just below its all-time high of $181.35 per share.   

The retailer also recently announced a 9% dividend hike which, postsplit, will be an annual payout of $0.83. 

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In total, more than 400,000 of its employees currently participate in the company’s Walmart’s Associate Stock Purchase Plan, which gives them the ability to buy stock through payroll deductions.

It also provides a 15% company match on the first $1,800 each year, according to Walmart.

Shareholders are to receive a distribution of two additional shares of common stock for each share held, Walmart said. 

McMillon said that given the company’s growth and its future plans, they believed it was a good time to create the stock split.

In the U.S. alone, the company recently announced it was developing and enhancing hundreds of stores over the next five years. It will mark the first time since November 2021 that Walmart opens a store.

New stores will be a mix of 182,000-square-foot Walmart Supercenters that employ about 300 and 38,000-square-foot Neighborhood Markets that employ up to 95.

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As such, hundreds of jobs will open up in various communities around the nation.

Last week, Walmart announced it is buying smart TV maker Vizio for $2.3 billion in a move aimed at supercharging the retail behemoth’s burgeoning advertising business.