When a company earns the title of Dividend King, it becomes part of an elite club, as boosting a dividend for 50 or more consecutive years is no small feat. For investors, it's a signal that, whatever types of uncertainty were swirling around the economy in the past half-century, the company reliably generated enough cash to keep hiking its payouts year in and year out.
With a track record of hikes over the past 53 years, Walmart (WMT -0.39%) has been one of the companies that has earned the Dividend King crown.
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The power of a Dividend King
Off the bat, given its yield of 0.8% at the current share price, there are plenty of other dividend stocks that offer higher yields. That said, the case for owning Walmart lies more in the reason why it has been able to continually boost its dividend.
Over the last 50 years, there have been corrections, bear markets, wars, economic uncertainty, technological disruptions, and more. Yet, during all of that, Walmart kept raising its payouts thanks to a business model that consistently generates cash flow, year in and year out. While the retailer's results can still be affected by recessions or economic downturns, Walmart stays resilient, offering stability for portfolios during times of uncertainty.
Owning Walmart is more about that stability, and its dividend is more of a bonus. There are plenty of reasons to believe that it will continue to boost its dividends long into the future, thanks to some newer revenue sources. This, once again, shows the reliability of Walmart's business model.
NASDAQ: WMT
Key Data Points
New revenue generators
Walmart has embraced technology to amplify its business, even transferring its common stock listing from the New York Stock Exchange to the Nasdaq in November 2025 to reflect its technology focus.
"The move to Nasdaq underscores the strong alignment between Walmart and Nasdaq's shared values: a technology-forward approach, delivering exceptional client value, and redefining their respective industries through innovation," the company said in a press release at the time.
One of those newer revenue generators utilizing tech is e-commerce, aided by artificial intelligence (AI) to make online shopping easier and more convenient. In Walmart's fiscal 2027 first quarter (which ended May 1), its global online sales rose 26% and weekly active users for its AI shopping agent, Sparky, increased by 100%. In addition, Walmart customers who use Sparky have an average order value that is roughly 35% higher than customers who don't use Sparky.
Its advertising business is another newer revenue generator, and global advertising sales rose 37% in fiscal 2027's first quarter. The retailer also has its Walmart+ subscription plan, which offers shipping perks and other benefits that can make people more inclined to keep shopping regularly at Walmart.
Walmart stock is essentially treading water thus far in 2026, with shares up only 4.2% as of this writing. Higher fuel costs and other inflationary effects are weighing on the spending habits of lower-income consumers, and Walmart has some internal operational issues that it's working its way through as well. These headwinds have led management to issue cautious outlooks for the year. However, as Walmart's ability to boost its dividend over the past 53 years has shown, it can keep generating plenty of cash even as it navigates through periods of uncertainty.
