Our first earnings season of calendar 2024 is all but over, and like any earnings season, it's left some dividend raises in its wake. Companies like to declare dividends concurrently or near the announcement of their quarterly results, and this just-past period saw quite a few famous issuers crank their payouts higher.

In the retail sphere, sector titans Walmart (WMT -0.08%) and Home Depot (HD 0.94%) both pulled the lever on dividend raises recently. Here's a rundown of the two hikes.

1. Walmart

Walmart is one of the stock market's most recently minted Dividend Kings. In February, it cemented that status by declaring its 51st dividend raise in a row. The company will pay $0.83 per share for its current (2025) fiscal year, divided into four quarterly payments. The new payout shakes out to $2.49 on a pre-stock split basis (Walmart's 3-for-1 split took effect on Feb. 26), which is 9% higher than the $2.28 dispensed throughout fiscal 2024.

That's actually quite a hefty raise for Walmart, as it is usually rather cautious and incremental with its habitual yearly boosts. In the company's recent history, it has tended to add $0.01 per quarter, per share to the payout. So, for example, the $2.28 of last fiscal year was only slightly higher than the previous frame's $2.24.

Walmart has plenty of reasons to feel flush these days. Its annual revenue for fiscal 2024 rose by 6% over the preceding year, which is a chunky number given the company's size and sprawl (the total was a dizzying $648 billion). Non-GAAP (adjusted) earnings improved at a similar rate, while profitability guidance for fiscal 2025 came in comfortably above analyst estimates.

The retailer is well poised to grow ever more powerful on the foundation of a humming economy and a consumer base that's getting over worries about inflation eating away at their paychecks. The recent acquisition of TV maker Vizio opens intriguing possibilities to build out the company's small -- but successful and high-margin -- advertising business.

Walmart's dividend raise kicks in with its next quarterly distribution, which has been set for April 1. Investors who hold shares as of March 15 will be eligible to receive it. At the current share price, the new payout would yield 1.4%.

2. Home Depot

Not to be outdone, on the same day Walmart announced its dividend raise, Home Depot did the same. The DIY retailer's hike is slightly less generous, with a nearly 8% bump in the quarterly disbursal to $2.25. This sort of raise is in character for Home Depot -- unlike Walmart, it prefers to lift the payout notably higher each year.

Home Depot's recent quarterly and full-year fiscal 2023 earnings report revealed dips on the top and bottom lines for both periods (although it has to be said that the company edged past the analyst consensus for the two metrics in the fourth quarter). More of a worry was management's guidance for the entirety of this fiscal year -- it's expecting only a minor recovery, with both net sales and profitability inching up by 1% compared to 2023.

Perception matters with Home Depot, too. Some investors fret that the long-tail success of the U.S. housing market of late might start to fade. No rally lasts forever, and interest rates are relatively high these days. Mortgages and big home-renovation projects are expensive, all the more so with the current cost of borrowing.

I say "perception," because the reality is that Home Depot has actually positioned itself well to compensate for the dips in construction cycles. All the same, if housing statistics start to look weak, some investors are sure to cut and run.

While I think Home Depot has a better future than many might realize, I don't see great opportunities for it to exploit in the foreseeable future. Other retail stocks have more potential, in my view.

The enhanced Home Depot dividend will be paid on March 21, to stockholders of record as of March 7. It tops Walmart for theoretical yield, at 2.4% on the most recent closing share price.