Walmart Inc (WMT) said earlier this week it would raise the average pay of pharmacy workers to over $20 per hour and offer them more frequent and automatic pay raises as part of the company’s new “progressive wage model”.
Under this plan, new pharmacy technicians will receive raises of up to $4 to their hourly starting base wage over the course of 4 years, Walmart said.
In light of a tight domestic labor market, the pay raises will be offered to over 36,000 Walmart and Sam’s Club pharmacy technicians, beginning this week.
On the other hand, starting wages will remain without change – between $15.00 and $22.50 per hour, while certified technicians will receive starting pay of $16.50 per hour and higher.
The retailer also said this week it would hire nearly 5,000 additional pharmacy technicians in 2022.
Walmart shares closed higher for the third time in the past ten trading sessions in New York on Thursday. It has also been the sharpest single-session gain since June 2nd. The stock went up 1.04% ($1.24) to $120.62, after touching an intraday high at $121.74. The latter has been a price level not seen since June 10th ($122.74).
The shares of Walmart Inc have retreated 16.62% so far in 2022 compared with a 23.07% loss for the benchmark index, S&P 500 (SPX).
In 2021, Walmart’s stock went up 0.37%, thus, it underperformed the S&P 500, which registered a 26.89% gain.
Analyst stock price forecast and recommendation
According to TipRanks, at least 22 out of 27 surveyed investment analysts had rated Walmart Inc’s stock as “Buy”, while 5 – as “Hold”. The median price target on the stock stands at $157.27.
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