Costco Wholesale Co. to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $1.16 (NASDAQ:COST)

Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, January 23rd,RTT News reports. Investors of record on Friday, February 7th will be paid a dividend of 1.16 per share by the retailer on Friday, February 21st. This represents a $4.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.49%.

Costco Wholesale has increased its dividend payment by an average of 13.6% per year over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 21 consecutive years. Costco Wholesale has a dividend payout ratio of 23.3% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Costco Wholesale to earn $19.66 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 23.6%.

Costco Wholesale Stock Performance

NASDAQ:COST traded down $2.54 on Thursday, reaching $942.16. 1,335,252 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,874,885. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $950.56 and a 200-day simple moving average of $903.04. Costco Wholesale has a 52 week low of $675.96 and a 52 week high of $1,008.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a current ratio of 0.98 and a quick ratio of 0.43. The firm has a market cap of $418.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 55.32, a P/E/G ratio of 5.65 and a beta of 0.84.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $935.00 to $1,000.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Truist Financial lifted their price target on Costco Wholesale from $909.00 to $935.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $950.00 to $1,000.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. DA Davidson raised their target price on Costco Wholesale from $880.00 to $900.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Costco Wholesale from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nineteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,013.59.

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.