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How to buy Costco Wholesale Corporation shares | $362.3
Own Costco Wholesale Corporation shares in just a few minutes. Share price changes are updated daily.
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Costco Wholesale Corporation (COST) is a leading discount stores business based in the US. It opened the day at $363.2 after a previous close of $362.8. During the day the price has varied from a low of $359.85 to a high of $364.63. The latest price was $362.3 (25 minute delay). Costco Wholesale Corporation is listed on the NASDAQ and employs 156,000 staff. All prices are listed in US Dollars.
How to buy shares in Costco Wholesale Corporation
- Choose a platform. If you're a beginner, our share-dealing table below can help you choose.
- Open your account. You'll need your ID, bank details and national insurance number.
- Confirm your payment details. You'll need to fund your account with a bank transfer, debit card or credit card.
- Search the platform for stock code: COST in this case.
- Research Costco Wholesale Corporation shares. The platform should provide the latest information available.
- Buy your Costco Wholesale Corporation shares. It's that simple.
What's in this guide?
- Can I buy shares in Costco Wholesale Corporation?
- Costco Wholesale Corporation shares summary
- Compare share dealing platforms
- Is Costco Wholesale Corporation stock a buy or sell?
- Costco Wholesale Corporation performance over time
- Can I short Costco Wholesale Corporation shares?
- Is Costco Wholesale Corporation suitable for ethical investing?
- Are Costco Wholesale Corporation shares over-valued?
- Costco Wholesale Corporation's financials
- How volatile are Costco Wholesale Corporation shares?
- Does Costco Wholesale Corporation pay a dividend?
- Have Costco Wholesale Corporation shares ever split?
- Other common questions
Costco Wholesale Corporation share price
Use our graph to track the performance of COST stocks over time.Costco Wholesale Corporation shares at a glance
Information last updated 2021-01-22.
| Open | $363.2 |
|---|---|
| High | $364.63 |
| Low | $359.85 |
| Close | $362.3 |
| Previous close | $362.8 |
| Change | $-0.5 |
| Change % | -0.138% |
| Volume | 1,960,295 |
Information last updated 2021-01-24.
| 52-week range | $262.6822 - $388.07 |
|---|---|
| 50-day moving average | $368.8582 |
| 200-day moving average | $356.9963 |
| Wall St. target price | $400.37 |
| PE ratio | 37.1971 |
| Dividend yield | $2.8 (0.77%) |
| Earnings per share (TTM) | $9.74 |
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All investing should be regarded as longer term. The value of your investments can go up and down, and you may get back less than you invest. Past performance is no guarantee of future results. If you’re not sure which investments are right for you, please seek out a financial adviser. Capital at risk.
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.
Costco Wholesale Corporation price performance over time
Historical closes compared with the last close of $362.3
| 1 week (2021-01-15) | 0.04% |
|---|---|
| 1 month (2020-12-24) | -0.63% |
| 3 months (2020-10-23) | -3.28% |
| 6 months (2020-07-24) | 11.21% |
| 1 year (2020-01-24) | 16.68% |
|---|---|
| 2 years (2019-01-24) | 72.27% |
| 3 years (2018-01-24) | 86.52% |
| 5 years (2016-01-22) | 135.73% |
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 37x. In other words, Costco Wholesale Corporation shares trade at around 37x 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 3.8826. 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 a whopping $8.1 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 | $172.9 billion |
|---|---|
| Operating margin TTM | 3.7% |
| Gross profit TTM | $21.9 billion |
| Return on assets TTM | 7.16% |
| Return on equity TTM | 27.81% |
| Profit margin | 2.5% |
| Book value | $33.547 |
| Market capitalisation | $160.5 billion |
TTM: trailing 12 months
How to short and sell Costco Wholesale Corporation shares
- Create a CFD or spread betting account.
- Search for the stock code. E.g. "COST.US"
- Choose your position size.
- Select "sell" rather than "buy".
- Confirm your position and keep tabs on it. You may wish to set limits on your position.
There are currently 3.9 million Costco Wholesale Corporation shares held short by investors – that's known as Costco Wholesale Corporation's "short interest". This figure is 19.7% up from 3.2 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 2.6 million). Costco Wholesale Corporation's SIR currently stands at 1.5. In other words for every 100,000 Costco Wholesale Corporation shares traded daily on the market, roughly 1500 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 0.0087% of the tradable shares (for every 100,000 tradable Costco Wholesale Corporation shares, roughly 9 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. A high-profile company, 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: 100.08% of net profits
Recently Costco Wholesale Corporation has paid out, on average, around 100.08% of net profits as dividends. That has enabled analysts to estimate a "forward annual dividend yield" of 0.77% 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 0.77% 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 $262.6822 up to $388.07. 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 0.6576. This would suggest that Costco Wholesale Corporation's shares are less volatile than average (for this exchange).
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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.
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