Walmart hits its highest price in 2 years after authorizing buybacks (WMT)

Walmart employee Getty

Walmart's stock was sent soaring after authorizing up to $20 billion in stock buybacks over the next two years.

Shares were trading 4.23% higher to $83.91, the company's highest price since March 2, 2015. Its all-time high is $90.97, reached in January 2015.

On Tuesday morning, Walmart announced stock buybacks and reaffirmed its positive earnings guidance. Buybacks are a tool frequently used by companies to boost share prices, and it seemed to have worked for Walmart. That's not to say the stock needed help though.

Walmart is up about 22.04% for the year after Tuesday's bump, making it one of the only retail companies seeing its stock price soar amid the "retail apocalypse." Walmart has been upping its digital offerings at a fervent pace to try and ward off Amazon's move into traditional retail. Walmart has recently announced free shipping, in-store item pickup, and in-store expedited returns for purchases made on its online store.

As the battle over the future of retail wages on, it looks like Walmart's moves are working. The company said it expects sales to grow next year by about 3% and plans to add more than 1,000 online grocery locations.