If you’re looking for the stock for Walmart, you’re looking for WMT. That is the ticker symbol. It’s traded on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), though you'll see it quoted across every major platform from Nasdaq to Bloomberg. As of mid-January 2026, the price is hovering around $120 per share.
But honestly, just knowing the ticker symbol is like knowing the color of a car without checking if the engine actually runs.
Walmart isn’t just a place where you buy bulk paper towels anymore. It has morphed into a tech-heavy, data-driven ecosystem that’s currently wrestling with Amazon for digital dominance. If you've looked at your brokerage account lately and wondered why a "boring" retail stock is hitting all-time highs, there is a lot more under the hood than just "Everyday Low Prices."
The Basics: What is the Stock for Walmart Right Now?
Let's get the raw numbers out of the way. Right now, WMT is trading near its 52-week high, which sits around $120.51. For context, the 52-week low was roughly $79.81. That is a massive swing for a company with a market cap nearing $960 billion.
You've probably noticed the price looks "cheaper" than it did a few years ago. That’s because of the 3-for-1 stock split that happened back in February 2024. Before that split, the shares were trading way up in the $170s and $180s. Walmart did the split specifically to make the price more accessible for its own employees to buy in through their associate stock purchase plan.
Current Key Stats (January 2026)
- Ticker: WMT
- Exchange: NYSE
- Current Price: ~$120.38
- Dividend Yield: ~0.78% to 0.82%
- Annual Dividend: $0.94 per share
- P/E Ratio: ~42.2
That P/E ratio is high. Like, really high for retail. Usually, you’d expect a grocery giant to trade at 15 or 20 times earnings. Trading at 42x means investors are treating Walmart more like a tech company than a supermarket.
Why the Market is Obsessed with WMT Lately
Most people think Walmart makes its money selling milk and TVs. They do, obviously. Total revenue for 2025 topped $680 billion. But the growth isn't coming from the cash registers in the physical aisles.
📖 Related: Private Credit News Today: Why the Golden Age is Getting a Reality Check
It’s coming from "shoppable TV."
With the acquisition of Vizio that finalized recently, Walmart now owns the operating system in millions of living rooms. They are turning your television into a giant checkout lane. If you see a spatula on a cooking show, they want you to be able to click your remote and have it delivered to your door in two hours.
The E-commerce Profitability Milestone
For a decade, the knock on Walmart was that they were losing their shirts on online orders. Amazon had the infrastructure; Walmart was just playing catch-up.
That changed in early fiscal 2026.
For the first time, Walmart's U.S. digital business turned a profit. They hit a "psychological" milestone where e-commerce now accounts for one out of every five dollars spent at Walmart. That is wild when you think about the sheer scale of their physical footprint. They’ve turned their 4,600 stores into "fulfillment nodes." Instead of shipping a box from a warehouse three states away, they just pull it off the shelf at the store five miles from your house. It’s cheaper, faster, and finally, profitable.
Dividends: The "Dividend King" Status
If you’re an income investor, Walmart is basically royalty. They have increased their dividend for 52 consecutive years.
👉 See also: Syrian Dinar to Dollar: Why Everyone Gets the Name (and the Rate) Wrong
Is the yield exciting? Not really. At 0.78%, it’s not going to pay for your retirement on its own. However, the payout is incredibly stable. They paid out $0.94 per share annually in 2025. They’ve got a payout ratio of about 32%, which basically means they are only using a third of their earnings to pay shareholders. The rest is being plowed back into AI, drone delivery, and those automated fulfillment centers that look like something out of a sci-fi movie.
What Most People Get Wrong About WMT
There is a common misconception that Walmart is a "defensive" play—a stock you buy only when the economy is crashing.
The reality in 2026 is different. While it's true that people flock to Walmart when inflation bites (because they need cheap eggs), the company is now capturing the high-income crowd.
CEO Doug McMillon—who, by the way, is handing the reins to John Furner in early 2026—spent years pushing "Walmart Connect." That's their advertising arm. When you search for "best blender" on Walmart.com, the brands pay Walmart for that top spot. This is high-margin revenue. It's the same trick Amazon used to become a trillion-dollar company.
Walmart isn't just a store; it's a media company that happens to sell groceries.
The Risks You Shouldn't Ignore
It’s not all sunshine and blue spark logos. There are real headwinds.
✨ Don't miss: New Zealand currency to AUD: Why the exchange rate is shifting in 2026
- Valuation: As I mentioned, a 42 P/E is rich. If Walmart misses an earnings report or if e-commerce growth slows down to single digits, that price could correct quickly.
- The Vizio Integration: Merging a hardware/software company into a retail giant is messy. They are banking on "agentic AI"—AI that can shop for you—to drive sales. If users find it creepy or clunky, that investment might underperform.
- Labor Costs: Walmart is the largest private employer in the world. Even small wage increases for their 2 million+ associates can eat billions in profit.
How to Actually Buy the Stock
You don't need a fancy broker. Since the 2024 split, the shares are much more affordable for retail investors.
- Fractional Shares: Most apps like Robinhood, Fidelity, or Schwab let you buy $5 or $10 worth of WMT if you don't want to drop $120 on a full share.
- DRIP: If you already own it, turn on the Dividend Reinvestment Plan. Since Walmart pays quarterly, those small payouts will automatically buy more tiny slivers of the company, compounding over time.
- ETFs: If you don't want to bet the farm on one company, WMT is a massive part of the Consumer Staples Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLP) and the Vanguard Consumer Staples ETF (VDC).
Actionable Next Steps for Investors
If you're serious about WMT, don't just watch the ticker.
Keep an eye on the February 19, 2026, earnings call. This will be one of the first major looks at how the holiday season went and how the leadership transition from McMillon to Furner is actually hitting the balance sheet.
Watch the "Membership and Other Income" line on their financial statements. This tracks Sam's Club memberships and Walmart+ subscribers. In 2025, membership income jumped by double digits. If that keeps growing, it provides a "moat" of recurring cash that makes the stock much less volatile during market hiccups.
Check the "Last Mile" delivery stats. Walmart is currently delivering about 35% of orders in under three hours in the U.S. If that number climbs, they aren't just competing with Amazon; they're beating them on speed. That's the real story behind the stock price.