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 given 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 dividend yield of 0.49%.

Costco Wholesale has raised its dividend by an average of 13.6% per year over the last three years and has raised its dividend every year for the last 20 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 Price Performance

Shares of COST opened at $942.16 on Friday. 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 company’s fifty day moving average price is $950.56 and its 200-day moving average price is $903.04. Costco Wholesale has a 1-year low of $675.96 and a 1-year high of $1,008.25. The firm has a market capitalization of $418.22 billion, a PE ratio of 55.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.63 and a beta of 0.84.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

COST has been the topic of several research analyst reports. UBS Group boosted their price target on Costco Wholesale from $840.00 to $1,040.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on Costco Wholesale from $975.00 to $1,075.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,075.00 to $1,175.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,019.00 to $1,020.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $935.00 to $1,000.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nineteen have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,013.59.

About Costco Wholesale

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.