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

Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, October 16th, Zacks reports. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 1st will be paid a dividend of 1.16 per share by the retailer on Friday, November 15th. This represents a $4.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.53%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 1st.

Costco Wholesale has increased its dividend payment by an average of 12.9% annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend annually for the last 21 consecutive years. Costco Wholesale has a payout ratio of 26.0% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Costco Wholesale to earn $19.35 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 24.0%.

Costco Wholesale Trading Down 0.9 %

Shares of NASDAQ COST opened at $879.09 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 0.97, a quick ratio of 0.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25. The stock has a market capitalization of $389.50 billion, a PE ratio of 53.05, a PEG ratio of 5.48 and a beta of 0.80. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $892.30 and a 200-day simple moving average of $842.70. Costco Wholesale has a twelve month low of $549.06 and a twelve month high of $923.83.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, September 26th. The retailer reported $5.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.05 by $0.10. Costco Wholesale had a return on equity of 31.05% and a net margin of 2.90%. The company had revenue of $79.70 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $79.91 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $4.86 EPS. Costco Wholesale’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Costco Wholesale will post 17.75 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Susan L. Decker sold 620 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $876.50, for a total transaction of $543,430.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 11,775 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,320,787.50. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Costco Wholesale news, Director Susan L. Decker sold 620 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $876.50, for a total value of $543,430.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 11,775 shares in the company, valued at $10,320,787.50. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Richard A. Galanti sold 500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $874.05, for a total transaction of $437,025.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 22,900 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,015,745. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 12,636 shares of company stock worth $11,238,510 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

COST has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $925.00 to $935.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. DA Davidson reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $880.00 price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Barclays boosted their target price on Costco Wholesale from $830.00 to $850.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Redburn Atlantic cut Costco Wholesale from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price target for the company from $860.00 to $890.00 in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. Finally, Truist Financial cut Costco Wholesale from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $873.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nineteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $894.57.

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.