How to buy Costco Wholesale Corporation stock | 375.75

Costco Wholesale Corporation is a discount stores business based in the US. Costco Wholesale Corporation shares (COST) are listed on the NASDAQ and all prices are listed in US Dollars. Costco Wholesale Corporation employs 156,000 staff and has a trailing 12-month revenue of around USD$166.8 billion.

How to buy shares in Costco Wholesale Corporation

1. Compare share trading platforms. If you're a beginner, look for a platform with low commissions, expert ratings and investment tools to track your portfolio. Narrow down top brands with our comparison table.
2. Open and fund your brokerage account. Complete an application with your personal and financial details, like your ID and bank information. Fund your account with a bank transfer, credit card or debit card.
3. Search for Costco Wholesale Corporation. Find the stock by name or ticker symbol: COST. Research its history to confirm it's a solid investment against your financial goals.
4. Purchase now or later. Buy today with a market order or use a limit order to delay your purchase until Costco Wholesale Corporation reaches your desired price. To spread out your purchase, look into dollar-cost averaging, which smooths out buying at consistent intervals and amounts.
5. Decide on how many to buy. At last close price of USD$375.75, weigh your budget against a diversified portfolio that can minimize risk through the market's ups and downs. You may be able to buy a fractional share of Costco Wholesale Corporation, depending on your broker.
6. Check in on your investment. Congratulations, you own a part of Costco Wholesale Corporation. Optimize your portfolio by tracking how your stock — and even the business — performs with an eye on the long term. You may be eligible for dividends and shareholder voting rights on directors and management that can affect your stock.

How has coronavirus impacted Costco Wholesale Corporation's share price?

Since the stock market crash in March caused by coronavirus, Costco Wholesale Corporation's share price has had significant positive movement.

Its last market close was USD$375.75, which is 14.32% up on its pre-crash value of USD$321.95 and 38.51% up on the lowest point reached during the March crash when the shares fell as low as USD$271.28.

If you had bought USD$1,000 worth of Costco Wholesale Corporation shares at the start of February 2020, those shares would have been worth USD$945.10 at the bottom of the March crash, and if you held on to them, then as of the last market close they'd be worth USD$1,243.73.

Costco Wholesale Corporation share price

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

Costco Wholesale Corporation shares at a glance

• Key figures

Information last updated 2020-12-01.

Latest market close	USD$375.75
52-week range	USD$269.5628 - USD$393.14
50-day moving average	USD$376.4618
200-day moving average	USD$339.4452
Wall St. target price	USD$375.89
PE ratio	43.4335
Dividend yield	USD$2.8 (0.72%)
Earnings per share (TTM)	USD$9.02

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Is it a good time to buy Costco Wholesale Corporation 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.

Technical Analysis of Costco Wholesale Corporation by TradingView

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 Corporation price performance over time

Historical closes compared with the close of $375.75 from 2020-10-22

1 week (2020-11-25)	-3.09%
1 month (2020-11-02)	3.12%
3 months (2020-09-03)	7.88%
6 months (2020-06-03)	22.54%

1 year (2019-12-03)	27.08%
2 years (2018-12-03)	61.91%
3 years (2017-12-01)	102.97%
5 years (2015-12-03)	129.58%

Is Costco Wholesale Corporation under- or over-valued?

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

Costco Wholesale Corporation's P/E ratio

Costco Wholesale Corporation's current share price divided by its per-share earnings (EPS) over a 12-month period gives a "trailing price/earnings ratio" of roughly 43x. In other words, Costco Wholesale Corporation shares trade at around 43x 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 Corporation's PEG ratio

Costco Wholesale Corporation's "price/earnings-to-growth ratio" can be calculated by dividing its P/E ratio by its growth – to give 4.209. 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 Corporation'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 Corporation's EBITDA

Costco Wholesale Corporation's EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation) is USD$7.7 billion.

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

Costco Wholesale Corporation financials

Revenue TTM	USD$166.8 billion
Operating margin TTM	3.61%
Gross profit TTM	USD$21.9 billion
Return on assets TTM	7.46%
Return on equity TTM	23.67%
Profit margin	2.4%
Book value	$41.436
Market capitalisation	USD$172.9 billion

TTM: trailing 12 months

Shorting Costco Wholesale Corporation shares

There are currently 3.0 million Costco Wholesale Corporation shares held short by investors – that's known as Costco Wholesale Corporation's "short interest". This figure is 15.4% up from 2.6 million last month.

There are a few different ways that this level of interest in shorting Costco Wholesale Corporation shares can be evaluated.

Costco Wholesale Corporation's "short interest ratio" (SIR)

Costco Wholesale Corporation's "short interest ratio" (SIR) is the quantity of Costco Wholesale Corporation shares currently shorted divided by the average quantity of Costco Wholesale Corporation shares traded daily (recently around 2.0 million). Costco Wholesale Corporation's SIR currently stands at 1.53. In other words for every 100,000 Costco Wholesale Corporation shares traded daily on the market, roughly 1530 shares are currently held short.

However Costco Wholesale Corporation's short interest can also be evaluated against the total number of Costco Wholesale Corporation shares, or, against the total number of tradable Costco Wholesale Corporation shares (the shares that aren't held by "insiders" or major long-term shareholders – also known as the "float"). In this case Costco Wholesale Corporation's short interest could be expressed as 0.01% of the outstanding shares (for every 100,000 Costco Wholesale Corporation shares in existence, roughly 10 shares are currently held short) or 0.0069% of the tradable shares (for every 100,000 tradable Costco Wholesale Corporation shares, roughly 7 shares are currently held short).

Such a low SIR usually points to an optimistic outlook for the share price, with fewer people currently willing to bet against Costco Wholesale Corporation.

Find out more about how you can short Costco Wholesale Corporation stock.

Costco Wholesale Corporation's environmental, social and governance track record

Environmental, social and governance (known as ESG) criteria are a set of three factors used to measure the sustainability and social impact of companies like Costco Wholesale Corporation.

When it comes to ESG scores, lower is better, and lower scores are generally associated with lower risk for would-be investors.

Costco Wholesale Corporation's total ESG risk score

Total ESG risk: 24.32

Socially conscious investors use ESG scores to screen how an investment aligns with their worldview, and Costco Wholesale Corporation's overall score of 24.32 (as at 01/01/2019) is pretty good – landing it in it in the 30th percentile of companies rated in the same sector.

ESG scores are increasingly used to estimate the level of risk a company like Costco Wholesale Corporation is exposed to within the areas of "environmental" (carbon footprint, resource use etc.), "social" (health and safety, human rights etc.), and "governance" (anti-corruption, tax transparency etc.).

Costco Wholesale Corporation's environmental score

Environmental score: 4.18/100

Costco Wholesale Corporation's environmental score of 4.18 puts it squarely in the 3rd percentile of companies rated in the same sector. This could suggest that Costco Wholesale Corporation is a leader in its sector terms of its environmental impact, and exposed to a lower level of risk.

Costco Wholesale Corporation's social score

Social score: 11.94/100

Costco Wholesale Corporation's social score of 11.94 puts it squarely in the 3rd percentile of companies rated in the same sector. This could suggest that Costco Wholesale Corporation is a leader in its sector when it comes to taking good care of its workforce and the communities it impacts.

Costco Wholesale Corporation's governance score

Governance score: 8.2/100

Costco Wholesale Corporation's governance score puts it squarely in the 3rd percentile of companies rated in the same sector. That could suggest that Costco Wholesale Corporation is a leader in its sector when it comes to responsible management and strategy, and exposed to a lower level of risk.

Costco Wholesale Corporation's controversy score

Controversy score: 3/5

ESG scores also evaluate any incidences of controversy that a company has been involved in. Costco Wholesale Corporation scored a 3 out of 5 for controversy – a middle-of-the-table result reflecting that Costco Wholesale Corporation hasn't always managed to keep its nose clean.

Environmental, social, and governance (ESG) summary

Costco Wholesale Corporation was last rated for ESG on: 2019-01-01.

Total ESG score	24.32
Total ESG percentile	30.2
Environmental score	4.18
Environmental score percentile	3
Social score	11.94
Social score percentile	3
Governance score	8.2
Governance score percentile	3
Level of controversy	3

Costco Wholesale Corporation share dividends

Dividend payout ratio: 120.16% of net profits

Recently Costco Wholesale Corporation has paid out, on average, around 120.16% of net profits as dividends. That has enabled analysts to estimate a "forward annual dividend yield" of 0.72% 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 Corporation shareholders could enjoy a 0.72% return on their shares, in the form of dividend payments. In Costco Wholesale Corporation's case, that would currently equate to about $2.8 per share.

Costco Wholesale Corporation's payout ratio would broadly be considered high, and as such this stock could appeal to those looking to generate an income. Bear in mind however that companies should normally also look to re-invest a decent amount of net profits to ensure future growth.

Costco Wholesale Corporation's most recent dividend payout was on 11 December 2020. The latest dividend was paid out to all shareholders who bought their shares by 1 December 2020 (the "ex-dividend date").

Have Costco Wholesale Corporation's shares ever split?

Costco Wholesale Corporation's shares were split on a 2:1 basis on 14 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 Corporation shares – just the quantity. However, indirectly, the new 50% lower share price could have impacted the market appetite for Costco Wholesale Corporation shares which in turn could have impacted Costco Wholesale Corporation's share price.

Costco Wholesale Corporation share price volatility

Over the last 12 months, Costco Wholesale Corporation's shares have ranged in value from as little as $269.5628 up to $393.14. 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 Corporation's is 0.6607. This would suggest that Costco Wholesale Corporation's shares are less volatile than average (for this exchange).

Costco Wholesale Corporation overview

Costco Wholesale Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the operation of membership warehouses in the United States, Puerto Rico, Canada, the United Kingdom, Mexico, Japan, Korea, Australia, Spain, France, Iceland, China, and Taiwan. It offers branded and private-label products in a range of merchandise categories. The company provides dry and packaged foods, and groceries; snack foods, candies, alcoholic and nonalcoholic beverages, and cleaning supplies; appliances, electronics, health and beauty aids, hardware, and garden and patio products; meat, bakery, and deli products, as well as produce; and apparel and small appliances. It also operates pharmacies, optical dispensing centers, food courts, and hearing-aid centers, as well as 615 gas stations; and offers business delivery, travel, same-day grocery, and various other services online in various countries. As of October 07, 2020, the company operated 796 warehouses, including 552 in the United States and Puerto Rico, 102 in Canada, 39 in Mexico, 29 in the United Kingdom, 27 in Japan, 16 in South Korea, 13 in Taiwan, 12 in Australia, 3 in Spain, 1 in Iceland, 1 in France, and 1 in China. It also operates e-commerce websites in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Mexico, South Korea, Taiwan, Japan, and Australia. The company was formerly known as Costco Companies, Inc. and changed its name to Costco Wholesale Corporation in August 1999. Costco Wholesale Corporation was founded in 1976 and is based in Issaquah, Washington.

Frequently asked questions

• What percentage of Costco Wholesale Corporation is owned by insiders or institutions?

  Currently 0.225% of Costco Wholesale Corporation shares are held by insiders and 70.486% by institutions.

• How many people work for Costco Wholesale Corporation?

  Latest data suggests 156,000 work at Costco Wholesale Corporation.

• When does the fiscal year end for Costco Wholesale Corporation?

  Costco Wholesale Corporation's fiscal year ends in September.

• Where is Costco Wholesale Corporation based?

  Costco Wholesale Corporation's address is: 999 Lake Drive, Issaquah, WA, United States, 98027

• What is Costco Wholesale Corporation's ISIN number?

  Costco Wholesale Corporation's international securities identification number is: US22160K1051

• What is Costco Wholesale Corporation's CUSIP number?

  Costco Wholesale Corporation's Committee on Uniform Securities Identification Procedures number is: 22160K105