Costco Wholesale (COST)
Consumer · NASDAQ · US
Price as at 5 Sept 2026, 02:25 UTC. Quotes are delayed.
Fundamentals
Valuation and ratings
Costco Wholesale trades at $915.74, close to the $850.00 our fair value estimate puts on the business. On this measure the market and the model broadly agree, so the interesting question is which of them is wrong.
Our moat model scores it 80 out of 100, which is a wide moat. A moat is a structural reason competitors cannot take the profits away, and it matters more to a long holding period than any single quarter's numbers do.
It changes hands at 46.1 times earnings. Be careful reading that in isolation: for a cyclical business a low P/E arrives at the top of the cycle, when profits are peaking and about to fall, which is exactly when the shares look cheapest and are not.
COST dividend history
Dividends per share by year
| Year | Total per share | Payments |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 (year to date) | $1.47 | 1 |
| 2025 | $2.46 | 2 |
| 2024 | $4.50 | 4 |
| 2023 | $18.96 | 5 |
| 2022 | $3.49 | 4 |
| 2021 | $3.07 | 4 |
| 2020 | $12.75 | 5 |
| 2019 | $2.52 | 4 |
| 2018 | $2.21 | 4 |
| 2017 | $8.95 | 5 |
| 2016 | $1.75 | 4 |
Split-adjusted amounts in the listing currency, grouped by the calendar year of the ex-dividend date, from the filed record. Growth and streak figures compare complete years only.
COST earnings and analyst estimates
Recommendation mix, 37 published ratings
Estimates are the published analyst consensus and move often. An earnings date is scheduled, not certain, and a share tends to reprice most violently on the day itself.
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. It offers merchandise, including sundries, dry groceries, candies, coolers, freezers, deli, liquor, and tobacco; non-food merchandise comprising appliances, small electronics, health and beauty aids, hardware, lawn and garden, sporting goods, tires, toys and seasonal, automotive, stamps, tickets, apparel, furniture, domestics, housewares, special order kiosks, and jewelry; and fresh food, such as meat, produce, service deli, and bakery products. The company is also involved in warehouse ancillary operations, which include gasoline, pharmacies, optical, food courts, hearing-aid centers, and tire installation centers. In addition, it engages in e-commerce, business centers, travel, and other businesses. 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.
Company profile, industry and headcount are as reported by our data provider and can lag a company's own filings by a reporting period. The annual report is the authority.
COST passes 4 of our 30 screens today
Each screen prints the exact criteria it used, and the circumstances in which it is wrong.
Super investor ownership
24 of the funds we track reported a position in their latest SEC 13F filing. Largest first:
- Ken Fisher, Fisher Asset Management, LLC$3.04B · 0.9% of book
- Cliff Asness, AQR CAPITAL MANAGEMENT LLC$1.17B · 0.4% of book
- Marshall Wace, MARSHALL WACE, LLP$1.10B · 0.9% of book
- Two Sigma, TWO SIGMA INVESTMENTS, LP$941.30M · 0.7% of book
- D. E. Shaw, D. E. Shaw & Co., Inc.$816.96M · 0.4% of book
A word of warning on reading these figures: a 13F reports the market value of a holding, so a fund that traded nothing at all still appears to have sold when the price fell. We found 102 companies where the standard reading gives the opposite answer. Only the share count is honest.
Common questions
Is Costco Wholesale (COST) undervalued?
Against our fair value estimate of $850.00, COST at $915.74 is 7% above fair value. That is one model's answer, not a recommendation. It is built from normalized earning power with growth capped deliberately low, which understates companies whose value is mostly future growth.
Which funds own COST?
24 of the institutions we track reported a position in COST in their most recent SEC 13F filing. A 13F is filed up to 45 days after quarter end, so it tells you what a fund held then, not what it holds now.
What is COST's P/E ratio?
COST trades at 46.1 times earnings. A low P/E is not automatically cheap: on a cyclical company it is usually a warning that earnings are at a peak.
Does Costco Wholesale (COST) pay a dividend?
Yes. Costco Wholesale yields 0.64% at the current share price. It has paid $1.47 per share over the trailing twelve months. It has paid a dividend in each of the last 22 complete calendar years. A dividend is declared by the board and can be cut at any time; a yield is a fact about the current price, not a promise.
When does COST report earnings next?
Costco Wholesale is scheduled to report on 24 Sept 2026. Companies move earnings dates, so read it as scheduled rather than certain.
Where does SteadyShares get its COST data?
Fundamentals for COST come from company filings and exchange data, as listed on NASDAQ; institutional ownership comes from SEC 13F filings. The share price shown was last refreshed on 5 Sept 2026, 02:25 UTC and is delayed. Metrics we do not hold are left out of the page rather than estimated.
The full research page for COST, with financial statements, ownership detail, peer comparison and alerts, is free inside the app.
Data from company filings, exchange quotes and SEC EDGAR 13F disclosures. Quotes are delayed. Metrics we do not have are left out rather than estimated. Educational information, not financial advice.