Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) to Issue Dividend Increase – $1.30 Per Share

Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, April 16th, RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 2nd will be given a dividend of 1.30 per share by the retailer on Friday, May 16th. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.52%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 2nd. This is a 12.1% increase from Costco Wholesale’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.16.

Costco Wholesale has increased its dividend by an average of 13.6% annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend every year for the last 21 years. Costco Wholesale has a dividend payout ratio of 23.3% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Costco Wholesale to earn $19.69 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 Trading Up 2.8 %

Shares of Costco Wholesale stock opened at $994.50 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a current ratio of 0.98. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $977.26 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $951.51. Costco Wholesale has a 52 week low of $702.00 and a 52 week high of $1,078.24. The stock has a market capitalization of $441.24 billion, a PE ratio of 58.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.15 and a beta of 0.95.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 6th. The retailer reported $4.02 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $4.09 by ($0.07). The firm had revenue of $63.72 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $63.02 billion. Costco Wholesale had a net margin of 2.93% and a return on equity of 32.31%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Costco Wholesale will post 18.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Costco Wholesale

In other Costco Wholesale news, EVP Claudine Adamo sold 900 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $922.56, for a total value of $830,304.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 6,987 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,445,926.72. This trade represents a 11.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Gary Millerchip sold 1,100 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $940.01, for a total value of $1,034,011.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 11,165 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,495,211.65. The trade was a 8.97 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 5,600 shares of company stock worth $5,215,915 over the last quarter. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Costco Wholesale

An institutional investor recently raised its position in Costco Wholesale stock. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) by 13.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,123 shares of the retailer’s stock after acquiring an additional 130 shares during the quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $1,029,000 as of its most recent SEC filing. 68.48% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on COST. Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research note on Friday, March 7th. DA Davidson raised their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $900.00 to $1,000.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on Costco Wholesale from $1,050.00 to $1,070.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Costco Wholesale from $1,065.00 to $1,070.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Finally, Telsey Advisory Group reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $1,100.00 price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-one have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,024.03.

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.