You’ve seen it on every receipt, delivery van, and blue-vested employee's name tag. But if you’re looking at the walmart stock ticker symbol on your brokerage app today, you aren't just looking at a grocery store anymore. Honestly, the old "retail giant" label is kinda dying.
As of January 2026, WMT is trading around $120. That might look "low" if you haven't checked the news since early 2024, but remember: the company pulled off a massive 3-for-1 stock split back in February 2024. They basically tripled the number of shares to make them more accessible for their own employees. Sam Walton always wanted his associates to be able to buy whole shares, not just fractions.
It worked.
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The stock has been on a tear lately. Just this month—January 20, 2026, to be exact—Walmart officially joined the Nasdaq-100. Moving from the old-school vibe of the NYSE-centric world to a tech-heavy index tells you everything you need to know about where this company is headed. They aren't just selling milk; they’re selling data, advertising, and automated logistics.
The WMT Ticker: More Than Just "Always Low Prices"
When people search for the walmart stock ticker symbol, they usually expect a boring, slow-moving dividend aristocrat. And sure, Walmart is a "Dividend King" with 52 consecutive years of payout increases. They just bumped the annual dividend to $0.94 per share for fiscal year 2026.
But the real story is the "flywheel."
Walmart’s e-commerce grew 27% globally in the last quarter of 2025. That’s not a typo. In the U.S. alone, they’ve seen seven straight quarters of 20%+ growth in digital sales. They are finally, truly, giving Amazon a run for its money, specifically in the "I need this in two hours" category. About 35% of their store-fulfilled orders are now delivered in under three hours.
Think about that.
They are using their 4,700+ U.S. stores as mini-warehouses. It's a logistical advantage Amazon simply can't replicate without spending hundreds of billions on real estate.
What’s Driving the Price in 2026?
Investors are currently paying a premium for WMT. The forward P/E ratio is sitting around 43.5x. That’s high—sorta scary high—for a retailer. For context, the sector median is usually way lower. So why are people piling in?
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- The Ad Business: "Walmart Connect," their advertising arm, grew 33% in the U.S. recently. When you're the biggest grocer in the world, brands will pay a lot to be the first thing a customer sees on your app.
- The VIZIO Factor: By integrating VIZIO’s SmartCast OS, Walmart turned millions of living room TVs into shoppable billboards.
- Membership Income: Between Walmart+ and Sam’s Club (especially the explosion of Sam's Club in China), membership income jumped 17% last quarter.
- Agentic AI: They’ve gone all-in on "AI-powered shopping." Their new partnership with Alphabet (Google) allows for a level of predictive search that makes the old "keyword search" feel like the stone age.
The 2024 Split: A Quick Refresher
If you’re looking at historical charts and see a giant "drop" in early 2024, don't panic. That was the 3-for-1 split.
- Before the split: Shares were trading around $175.
- After the split: They reset to roughly $58.
- Today (Jan 2026): We're back up near $120.
That is essentially a 100% gain in less than two years. Not exactly "boring retail" behavior.
The Risks: It’s Not All Blue Skies
We have to be real here. Walmart is facing some serious headwinds as we start 2026.
The CEO, Doug McMillon—who is actually preparing to hand the reins over to John Furner—recently warned that higher tariffs could force price hikes. Since Walmart sources a massive amount of goods internationally, any trade war volatility hits them directly. They have to decide: do they eat the cost and lose margin, or raise prices and lose customers?
Also, Amazon still owns about 37% of the U.S. e-commerce market. Walmart is at 6.3%. Even with 27% growth, that’s a huge gap to close. Plus, their fashion and electronics prices still trend about 7% higher than Amazon's in most side-by-side comparisons.
How to Trade the Walmart Stock Ticker Symbol Today
If you're looking to jump in, you need to watch the February 19 earnings report. Analysts are looking for a Q4 EPS of $0.72. If they beat that, especially on the back of strong holiday e-commerce, the $125 price target many analysts have set might look conservative.
Most experts (about 37 of them according to recent Barchart data) have a "Strong Buy" on it. But honestly, at a 40+ P/E, you're buying a tech company's valuation. You have to believe the advertising and data business will eventually outweigh the razor-thin margins of selling bananas and socks.
Actionable Steps for Investors:
- Verify your holdings: If you’ve held WMT since before February 2024, ensure your brokerage correctly adjusted your cost basis for the 3-for-1 split.
- Watch the Nasdaq-100 inflows: The inclusion on Jan 20, 2026, is expected to trigger roughly $19 billion in automated buying from index funds. This could create a short-term "floor" for the price.
- Check the Dividend Dates: The next ex-dividend date is March 23, 2026. You need to own the stock before then to catch the $0.235 quarterly payout on April 7.
- Monitor the CEO Transition: As John Furner takes over, watch for shifts in capital allocation. If he pulls back on AI spending to protect margins, the "tech premium" might evaporate.
Walmart is no longer the defensive stock you buy just to hide from a recession. It’s a growth play disguised as a grocery store. Whether that $120 price point is a "steal" or a "peak" depends entirely on how well they can turn those 4,700 stores into high-tech fulfillment hubs over the next twelve months.