Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) Announces $1.16 Quarterly Dividend

Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, October 16th, Zacks reports. Investors of record on Friday, November 1st will be given a dividend of 1.16 per share by the retailer on Friday, November 15th. This represents a $4.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.52%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 1st.

Costco Wholesale has raised its dividend payment by an average of 12.9% per year over the last three years and has raised its dividend every year for the last 21 years. Costco Wholesale has a dividend payout ratio of 26.0% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Costco Wholesale to earn $19.29 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $4.64 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 24.1%.

Costco Wholesale Stock Performance

Costco Wholesale stock opened at $885.29 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $888.57 and its 200-day simple moving average is $831.04. The company has a market cap of $392.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 54.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.53 and a beta of 0.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a current ratio of 0.97 and a quick ratio of 0.44. Costco Wholesale has a fifty-two week low of $540.23 and a fifty-two week high of $923.83.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last released its earnings results on Thursday, September 26th. The retailer reported $5.15 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.05 by $0.10. Costco Wholesale had a net margin of 2.90% and a return on equity of 31.05%. The business had revenue of $79.70 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $79.91 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $4.86 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Costco Wholesale will post 17.73 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Costco Wholesale

In other Costco Wholesale news, EVP Claudine Adamo sold 3,200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $888.99, for a total value of $2,844,768.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 8,630 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,671,983.70. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other Costco Wholesale news, EVP Richard A. Galanti sold 500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $863.88, for a total value of $431,940.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 23,800 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,560,344. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Claudine Adamo sold 3,200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $888.99, for a total transaction of $2,844,768.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 8,630 shares in the company, valued at $7,671,983.70. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 11,224 shares of company stock valued at $9,974,973 in the last 90 days. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently commented on COST shares. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $830.00 to $850.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Melius Research initiated coverage on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. They issued a “hold” rating and a $950.00 target price for the company. Loop Capital lifted their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $975.00 to $1,005.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Roth Mkm lifted their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $676.00 to $755.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Finally, Redburn Atlantic cut shares of Costco Wholesale from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $860.00 to $890.00 in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Costco Wholesale has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $890.07.

Costco Wholesale Company Profile

Costco Wholesale Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the operation of membership warehouses in the United States, Puerto Rico, Canada, Mexico, Japan, the United Kingdom, Korea, Australia, Taiwan, China, Spain, France, Iceland, New Zealand, and Sweden. The company offers branded and private-label products in a range of merchandise categories.