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

Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, January 23rd,RTT News reports. Shareholders 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.45%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 7th.

Costco Wholesale has increased its dividend by an average of 13.6% per year over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 20 consecutive years. Costco Wholesale has a payout ratio of 23.3% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities 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 Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:COST opened at $1,025.32 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a current ratio of 0.98. Costco Wholesale has a one year low of $697.27 and a one year high of $1,024.35. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $956.42 and a 200-day simple moving average of $910.75. The stock has a market capitalization of $455.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 60.15, a PEG ratio of 5.84 and a beta of 0.84.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have weighed in on COST. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $935.00 to $1,000.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Roth Mkm lifted their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $755.00 to $907.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Loop Capital upped their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,005.00 to $1,095.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. DA Davidson lifted their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $880.00 to $900.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Raymond James lifted their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $990.00 to $1,030.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nineteen have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price 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.