Costco Wholesale (COST) Stock Price, News & Analysis

Company Overview

Costco Wholesale Corporation operates a membership-based warehouse retail business under the Costco name. The company sells merchandise in bulk and at competitive prices through warehouse clubs and e-commerce platforms, serving individual consumers, businesses and other organizations.

Its product selection includes groceries and fresh foods, household supplies, appliances, electronics, furniture, apparel, health and beauty products, jewelry, automotive products and prescription drugs. Costco also provides services such as optical care, pharmacy services, hearing-aid sales, travel offerings and fuel sales, depending on location.

The company traces its roots to Price Club, which opened in San Diego in 1976. Price Club and Costco merged in 1993, and the combined business adopted the Costco Wholesale name in 1997. Costco operates throughout the United States and Canada, as well as in international markets including Mexico, the United Kingdom, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Australia, Spain, France, Iceland and New Zealand. Ron Vachris has served as Costco’s president and chief executive officer since January 2024.

Key Stats

• Today's Range: $980.67 to $993.19
• 50-Day Range: $893.74 to $989.11
• 52-Week Range: $844.06 to $1,096.50
• Volume: 2.52 million shs
• Average Volume: 2.39 million shs
• Market Capitalization: $438.30 billion
• P/E Ratio: 47.64
• Dividend Yield: 0.59%
• Price Target: $1,087.40
• Consensus Rating: Moderate Buy

Costco Wholesale Stock Analysis - MarketRank™

Costco Wholesale scored higher than 88% of companies evaluated by MarketBeat, and ranked 14th out of 169 stocks in the consumer staples sector. Scores are calculated by averaging available category scores, with extra weight given to analysis and valuation.

Analyst's Opinion

• Score: 3.1 / 5
• Analyst Rating: Moderate Buy

Consensus Rating

Costco Wholesale has received a consensus rating of Moderate Buy. The company's average rating score is 2.70, and is based on no strong buy ratings, 24 buy ratings, 8 hold ratings, and 1 sell rating.

Upside/Downside

The consensus price target for Costco Wholesale is close to its current price, suggesting limited near-term upside or downside.

Amount of Analyst Coverage

Costco Wholesale has been the subject of 23 research reports in the past 90 days, demonstrating strong analyst interest in this stock.

Earnings and Valuation

• Score: 1.3 / 5
• Proj. Earnings Growth: 9.78%

Earnings Growth

Earnings for Costco Wholesale are expected to grow by 9.78% in the coming year, from $22.70 to $24.92 per share.

Price to Earnings Ratio vs. the Market

The P/E ratio of Costco Wholesale is 47.64, which means that it is trading at a more expensive P/E ratio than the market average P/E ratio of about 44.31.

Price to Earnings Ratio vs. Sector

The P/E ratio of Costco Wholesale is 47.64, which means that it is trading at a more expensive P/E ratio than the Consumer Staples sector average P/E ratio of about 13.75.

Price to Earnings Growth Ratio

Costco Wholesale has a PEG Ratio of 4.23. PEG Ratios above 1 indicate that a company could be overvalued.

Price to Book Value per Share Ratio

Costco Wholesale has a P/B Ratio of 12.24. P/B Ratios above 3 indicate that a company could be overvalued with respect to its assets and liabilities.

Short Interest

• Score: 4.0 / 5
• Short Interest Level: Healthy

Percentage of Shares Shorted

1.65% of the float of Costco Wholesale has been sold short.

Short Interest Ratio / Days to Cover

Costco Wholesale has a short interest ratio ("days to cover") of 2.74, which is generally considered an acceptable ratio of short interest to trading volume.

Change versus previous month

Short interest in Costco Wholesale has recently decreased by 0.47%, indicating that investor sentiment is improving.

Dividend

• Score: 3.3 / 5
• Dividend Strength: Strong

Dividend Yield

Costco Wholesale has a dividend yield of 0.59%, which is in the bottom 25% of all stocks that pay dividends.

Dividend Growth

Costco Wholesale has been increasing its dividend for 22 years.

Dividend Coverage

The dividend payout ratio of Costco Wholesale is 28.32%. This payout ratio is at a healthy, sustainable level, below 75%.

Dividend Sustainability

Based on earnings estimates, Costco Wholesale will have a dividend payout ratio of 23.60% next year. This indicates that Costco Wholesale will be able to sustain or increase its dividend.

News and Social Media

• Score: 4.4 / 5
• News Sentiment: 1.00

News Sentiment

Costco Wholesale has a news sentiment score of 1.00. This score is calculated as an average of sentiment of articles about the company over the last seven days and ranges from 2 (good news) to -2 (bad news). This is a higher news sentiment than the 0.53 average news sentiment score of Consumer Staples companies.

News Coverage This Week

MarketBeat has tracked 118 news articles for Costco Wholesale this week, compared to 10 articles on an average week.

Search Interest

124 people have searched for COST on MarketBeat in the last 30 days. This is an increase of 51% compared to the previous 30 days.

MarketBeat Follows

75 people have added Costco Wholesale to their MarketBeat watchlist in the last 30 days. This is an increase of 63% compared to the previous 30 days.

Company Ownership

• Score: 1.4 / 5
• Insider Trading: Selling Shares

Insider Buying vs. Insider Selling

In the past three months, Costco Wholesale insiders have sold more of their company's stock than they have bought. Specifically, they have bought $0.00 in company stock and sold $3,069,077.00 in company stock.

Percentage Held by Insiders

0.10% of the stock of Costco Wholesale is held by insiders.

Percentage Held by Institutions

68.48% of the stock of Costco Wholesale is held by institutions. High institutional ownership can be a signal of strong market trust in this company.

Company Calendar

• Record date for 8/7 Dividend: 7/24/2026
• Ex-Dividend for 8/7 Dividend: 7/24/2026
• Dividend Payable: 8/07/2026
• Last Earnings: 9/24/2026
• Today: 10/18/2026
• Record date for 11/13 Dividend: 10/30/2026
• Ex-Dividend for 11/13 Dividend: 10/30/2026
• Dividend Payable: 11/13/2026
• Next Earnings (Estimated): 12/10/2026
• Fiscal Year End: 8/31/2027

Industry, Sector and Symbol

• Stock Exchange: NASDAQ
• Sector: Consumer Staples
• Industry: Consumer Staples Distribution & Retail
• Sub-Industry: Consumer Staples Merchandise Retail
• Current Symbol: NASDAQ:COST
• CIK: 909832
• Web: www.costco.com
• Phone: (425) 313-8100
• Fax: 425-313-6593
• Employees: 355,000
• Year Founded: 1983

Price Target and Rating

• Average Price Target for Costco Wholesale: $1,087.40
• High Price Target: $1,315.00
• Low Price Target: $781.00
• Potential Upside/Downside: +9.9%
• Consensus Rating: Moderate Buy
• Rating Score (0-4): 2.70
• Research Coverage: 33 Analysts

Profitability

• EPS (Trailing Twelve Months): $20.76
• Trailing P/E Ratio: 47.64
• Forward P/E Ratio: 43.57
• P/E Growth: 4.23
• Net Income: $9.23 billion
• Net Margins: 3.04%
• Pretax Margin: 4.04%
• Return on Equity: 27.60%
• Return on Assets: 10.63%

Debt

• Debt-to-Equity Ratio: 0.11
• Current Ratio: 1.06
• Quick Ratio: 0.62

Sales & Book Value

• Annual Sales: $303.15 billion
• Price / Sales: 1.45
• Cash Flow: $26.54 per share
• Price / Cash Flow: 37.27
• Book Value: $80.80 per share
• Price / Book: 12.24

Miscellaneous

• Outstanding Shares: 443,130,000
• Free Float: 442,686,000
• Market Cap: $438.30 billion
• Optionable: Optionable
• Beta: 0.88