Analysis of Walmart's Dividend Policy, Debt, and Controller Role

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of Walmart's dividend policy, focusing on its stable dividend approach and the factors influencing it. The report examines Walmart's commitment to dividend payments, its classification as a dividend aristocrat, and the recent trends in dividend payouts. It also analyzes the company's long-term debt, highlighting the trends and implications for financial health. Furthermore, the report explores the role of the controller in accounting for shareholder equity within Walmart. The analysis draws upon financial data, including dividend payments and debt balances, and references academic research to support the findings. The report concludes with insights into the company's financial strategies and their impact on shareholders.

Running head: WALMART DIVIDEND 1
Walmart Dividend
Name
Institution

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WALMART DIVIDEND
Dividend Policy
The company uses stable divided policy and pays cash dividends. It is clinging on
dividend aristocracy.
Dividend Amount per Share
The company’s total dividend payment stood at $6.30 billion, $6.20 billion and $6.10
billion for the fiscal 2016, 2015 and 2014 in that order. On Feb 18th, 2016, the Walmart Board of
Director approved fiscal 2017 yearly dividend of $2.00 per share. This was an increase over
fiscal annual dividend of %1.960 per share. For fiscal 2017, annual dividend will be paid in 4
quarterly installments of $0.5 per share.
Why Stable Dividend Policy
This is the easiest and most commonly utilized policy. Walmart’s goal was to aim for
steady as well as predictable dividend payout yearly. This is what most investors seek by
receiving dividend whether earnings are up or down (Renneboog & Szilagyi, 2015).
Walmart mat stop or have stopped the dividend payments?
Walmart has not stopped paying for dividend but it is facing a worrisome change of
exiling from dividend royalty. This is because the total amount of cash dividend paid out
dropped by 1.10% in 2nd quarter from 2016. It has raised dividend payout per year for forty-three
years, but increase have dramatically slowed. There is no intention to stop dividend payment.
However, I think it would be wiser for Walmart to reinvest this money into the company since it
has been only struggling in the past three years to cling to aristocracy yet the truth is that
Walmart is doing bare minimum (Travlos, Trigeorgis & Vafeas, 2015).
Long-Term Debt

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The company’s long-term debt as at January 31, 2016 was $38, 214.0. The Walmart’s
total outstanding long-term debt balance declined $4.70 billion for the 12 months ended January
31, 2016. This was primarily as a result of no significant novel long-term debt issuance in
present year offset by the prevailing long-term debt maturities. From, this revelation, it can be
concluded that Walmart has small long debt and it is decreasing and hence the needless for it to
pay down some amount of the debt.
Role of Controller
The controller played a key role in accounting for shareholder equity within Walmart

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References
Renneboog, L., & Szilagyi, P. G. (2015). How relevant is dividend policy under low shareholder
protection?. Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money.
Travlos, N. G., Trigeorgis, L., & Vafeas, N. (2015). Shareholder wealth effects of dividend
policy changes in an emerging stock market: The case of Cyprus.