How to buy Costco Wholesale stock (COST)

Costco Wholesale (COST) is a leading discount stores business based in the US. It opened the day at $874.27 after a previous close of $874.18. During the day the price has varied from a low of $867.34 to a high of $879.41. The latest price was $877.31 (25 minute delay). Costco Wholesale is listed on the NASDAQ and employs 333,000 staff. All prices are listed in US Dollars.

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Costco Wholesale stock price (NASDAQ: COST)

Use our graph to track the performance of COST stocks over time.

Costco Wholesale shares at a glance

• Live prices
• Key figures

Information last updated 2024-10-15.

Open	$892.09
High	$900.65
Low	$889.55
Close	$897.71
Previous close	$889.76
Change more info button	$7.95
Change % more info button	0.8935%
Volume more info button	372,136

Information last updated 2024-10-31.

52-week range	$544.49 - $922.60
50-day moving average more info button	$891.94
200-day moving average more info button	$806.71
Wall St. target price	$937.05
PE ratio more info button	52.9165
Dividend yield more info button	$4.36 (0.53%)
Earnings per share (TTM) more info button	$16.52

Is it a good time to buy Costco Wholesale stock?

The technical analysis gauge below displays real-time ratings for the timeframes you select. This is not a recommendation, however. It represents a technical analysis based on the most popular technical indicators: Moving Averages, Oscillators and Pivots. Finder might not concur and takes no responsibility.

This chart is not advice or a guarantee of success. Rather, it gauges the real-time recommendations of three popular technical indicators: moving averages, oscillators and pivots. Finder is not responsible for how your stock performs.

Costco Wholesale price performance over time

Historical closes compared with the close of $877.31 from 2024-10-31

1 week (2024-10-25)	-1.56%
1 month (2024-10-02)	-0.14%
3 months (2024-08-02)	6.72%
6 months (2024-05-02)	19.78%

1 year (2023-11-02)	57.80%
2 years (2022-11-02)	88.07%
3 years (2021-11-02)	84.19%
5 years (2019-11-01)	208.98%

Is Costco Wholesale stock undervalued or overvalued?

Valuing Costco Wholesale stock is incredibly difficult, and any metric has to be viewed as part of a bigger picture of Costco Wholesale's overall performance. However, analysts commonly use some key metrics to help gauge the value of a stock.

Costco Wholesale's P/E ratio

Costco Wholesale's current share price divided by its per-share earnings (EPS) over a 12-month period gives a "trailing price/earnings ratio" of roughly 53x. In other words, Costco Wholesale shares trade at around 53x recent earnings.

That's relatively high compared to, say, the trailing 12-month P/E ratio for the NASDAQ 100 at the end of 2019 (27.29). The high P/E ratio could mean that investors are optimistic about the outlook for the shares or simply that they're over-valued.

Costco Wholesale's PEG ratio

Costco Wholesale's "price/earnings-to-growth ratio" can be calculated by dividing its P/E ratio by its growth – to give 5.4115. A low ratio can be interpreted as meaning the shares offer better value, while a higher ratio can be interpreted as meaning the shares offer worse value.

The PEG ratio provides a broader view than just the P/E ratio, as it gives more insight into Costco Wholesale's future profitability. By accounting for growth, it could also help you if you're comparing the share prices of multiple high-growth companies.

Costco Wholesale's EBITDA

Costco Wholesale's EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation) is $11.5 billion.

The EBITDA is a measure of a Costco Wholesale's overall financial performance and is widely used to measure a its profitability.

Costco Wholesale financials

Revenue TTM	$254.5 billion
Operating margin TTM	3.82%
Gross profit TTM	$30.1 billion
Return on assets TTM	8.36%
Return on equity TTM	30.27%
Profit margin	2.9%
Book value	$53.31
Market Capitalization more info button	$389.6 billion

TTM: trailing 12 months

Costco Wholesale share dividends

Dividend payout ratio: 27.51% of net profits

Recently Costco Wholesale has paid out, on average, around 0% of net profits as dividends. That has enabled analysts to estimate a "forward annual dividend yield" of 0% of the current stock value. This means that over a year, based on recent payouts (which are sadly no guarantee of future payouts), Costco Wholesale shareholders could enjoy a 0% return on their shares, in the form of dividend payments. In Costco Wholesale's case, that would currently equate to about $4.36 per share.

While Costco Wholesale's payout ratio might seem fairly standard, it's worth remembering that Costco Wholesale may be investing much of the rest of its net profits in future growth.

Costco Wholesale's most recent dividend payout was on 14 November 2024. The latest dividend was paid out to all shareholders who bought their shares by 31 October 2024 (the "ex-dividend date").

Have Costco Wholesale's shares ever split?

Costco Wholesale's shares were split on a 2:1 basis on 13 January 2000 . So if you had owned 1 share the day before before the split, the next day you'd have owned 2 shares. This wouldn't directly have changed the overall worth of your Costco Wholesale shares – just the quantity. However, indirectly, the new 50% lower share price could have impacted the market appetite for Costco Wholesale shares which in turn could have impacted Costco Wholesale's share price.

Costco Wholesale share price volatility

Over the last 12 months, Costco Wholesale's shares have ranged in value from as little as $544.4948 up to $922.6024. A popular way to gauge a stock's volatility is its "beta".

Beta is a measure of a share's volatility in relation to the market. The market (NASDAQ average) beta is 1, while Costco Wholesale's is 0.787. This would suggest that Costco Wholesale's shares are less volatile than average (for this exchange).

Costco Wholesale overview

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. It offers merchandise, such as sundries, dry groceries, candies, coolers, freezers, deli, liquor, and tobacco; appliances, electronics, health and beauty aids, hardware, lawn and garden, sporting goods, tires, toys and seasonal products, office supplies, automotive care products, postages, tickets, apparel, small appliances, furniture, domestics, housewares, special order kiosks, and jewelry; and meat, produce, service deli, and bakery products. The company also operates gasoline, pharmacies, optical, food courts, hearing-aid centers, and tire installation centers; and offers business delivery, travel, grocery, and various other services online. It also operates e-commerce websites. The company was formerly known as Costco Companies, Inc. and changed its name to Costco Wholesale Corporation in August 1999.

Frequently asked questions

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What percentage of Costco Wholesale is owned by insiders or institutions?
Currently 0.189% of Costco Wholesale shares are held by insiders and 71.833% by institutions. How many people work for Costco Wholesale?
Latest data suggests 333,000 work at Costco Wholesale. When does the fiscal year end for Costco Wholesale?
Costco Wholesale's fiscal year ends in August. Where is Costco Wholesale based?
Costco Wholesale's address is: 999 Lake Drive, Issaquah, WA, United States, 98027 What is Costco Wholesale's ISIN number?
Costco Wholesale's international securities identification number is: US22160K1051 What is Costco Wholesale's CUSIP number?
Costco Wholesale's Committee on Uniform Securities Identification Procedures number is: 74143W102