Costco Stock Today (COST) — Price, Fresh News and Analyst Outlook on November 22, 2025

Costco Wholesale stock (NASDAQ: COST) is heading into the weekend sitting just below the $900 mark after a choppy stretch for retail and the broader market. As of Friday’s close on November 21, 2025, Costco shares finished at $899.01, up 0.64% on the day, with an after‑hours tick to $899.52. ^[1]

Behind that almost-flat share price is a very non‑flat story: strong sales and membership growth, a premium valuation, mixed technical signals, heavy institutional ownership, and a wave of fresh headlines today, November 22, 2025.

Costco stock price snapshot

Last close (Nov 21, 2025): $899.01 (+0.64%)
After-hours quote: $899.52 (+0.06%) ^[2]
Day’s range (Friday): $892.13 – $905.32 ^[3]
52‑week range: $871.71 – $1,078.24 ^[4]
Market cap: about $398 billion ^[5]
Trailing P/E: roughly 49–50x earnings ^[6]
Dividend yield: about 0.6% on the regular quarterly payout of $1.30 per share ^[7]

Over the last five years, Costco stock has delivered a total price gain of roughly 155%, even after the recent pullback. ^[8] That context is crucial: today’s news flow is landing on top of a long run of outperformance.

Today’s big Costco headlines (Nov 22, 2025)

Several fresh stories are shaping the conversation around Costco stock today:

Motley Fool: “Read This Before Buying Costco Stock”
A new analysis highlights three key points for would‑be buyers:
- Costco’s membership model drives repeat traffic and loyalty, with about 81 million paid membership households, up 6.3% year over year in Q4 2025 and renewal rates around 90%. ^[9]
- Same‑store sales (comparable sales) rose 5.9% in fiscal 2025, underscoring resilient demand even in a tougher macro environment. ^[10]
- The stock trades at an expensive valuation — roughly a 49x P/E — leaving limited margin of safety if growth ever slows or sentiment cools. ^[11]
The tone is classic “great business, demanding price”: bullish on the underlying company but cautious on what investors are paying for it.
“My 3 Favorite Stocks to Buy Right Now” names Costco
Another Motley Fool piece out today calls Costco one of the author’s top three stocks to buy, placing it alongside other long‑term compounders and arguing that the membership‑warehouse model justifies a premium, especially for patient investors. ^[12]
Macro retail coverage: holiday season looks tough
- A Bloomberg feature on retail stocks warns that big‑box chains are heading into the holidays with a financially stretched consumer and increased caution around discretionary spending. ^[13]
- A Yahoo Finance report on “America’s biggest retailers” describes uneven results across the sector and notes that low‑income shoppers are “feeling the squeeze” from high prices, even as discounters and value‑oriented players see relatively better traffic. ^[14]
These pieces don’t single out Costco as a loser — if anything, warehouse clubs are often called out as relative winners when budgets are tight — but they reinforce that the macro backdrop is far from easy.
TheStreet: “Costco will soon do something it only does 7 times a year”
An article syndicated via Yahoo Finance teases that Costco is about to undertake an event or action it typically does only seven times per year. ^[15] Due to technical limitations, the full details of the piece weren’t accessible here, but the framing suggests a recurring yet relatively rare corporate action or promotion (for example, a specific type of sales update or event). Investors may want to consult the original article for the exact details before treating this as a major catalyst.
Ongoing coverage: “Costco Stock Has Had a Tough Year. Time to Buy?”
A separate Motley Fool analysis from yesterday argues that Costco’s warehouse business remains excellent, but the stock has slipped back below $900 and is roughly flat‑to‑negative for 2025, largely because of its rich valuation rather than deteriorating fundamentals. ^[16] Together with today’s “Read This Before Buying” article, the message from Fool contributors is consistent: fundamentals strong, valuation tight.

Institutional investors are still piling into Costco

Today also brought several institutional ownership updates via MarketBeat that matter for Costco shareholders:

Evelyn Partners Investment Management Services Ltd
Increased its Costco stake by 12,900% in Q2, up to 1,820 shares valued at around $1.7 million. ^[17]
RD Lewis Holdings Inc.
Boosted its position by 37.2% to 2,854 shares, making Costco about 2.8% of its portfolio and the firm’s 10th‑largest holding. ^[18]
Bowen Hanes & Co. Inc.
Trimmed its Costco stake slightly (about 0.8%) but still holds 126,476 shares, roughly 3.2% of the portfolio and the fund’s 3rd‑largest position. ^[19]
Stevens Capital Management LP
Increased its Costco position by 351.5%, buying 4,366 additional shares in Q2. ^[20]
Rhumbline Advisers and Evelyn Partners Investment Management LLP
Filed separate updates indicating modest reductions in Costco holdings, showing that not every institution is adding at current levels. ^[21]

Across these filings, MarketBeat notes that institutional ownership sits around the high‑60% range, with Vanguard alone holding over 43 million shares worth roughly $43 billion at recent prices. ^[22]

Takeaway: Big money is far from abandoning Costco; the pattern is a mix of profit‑taking and fresh accumulation, consistent with a high‑quality but fully priced blue chip.

Fundamentals: Costco’s fiscal 2025 performance

Costco’s most recent full results (fiscal year ended August 31, 2025) provide the foundation for today’s bullish commentary: ^[23]

Revenue:
- Q4 net sales: $84.4 billion, +8.0% year over year
- Full‑year net sales: $269.9 billion, +8.1% year over year
- Total revenue (including membership fees): $275.2 billion, +8.2%
Comparable sales (comp/store sales):
- Full‑year total company comps: +5.9%
- U.S. comps: +6.2% (7.3% on a gas‑ and FX‑adjusted basis)
- E‑commerce comps: +15.6% for the year
Profitability:
- Q4 net income: $2.61 billion, or $5.87 per diluted share
- Full‑year net income: $8.10 billion, or $18.21 per diluted share, up from $16.56 last year
Membership and scale:
- Membership fee revenue reached $5.3 billion in fiscal 2025, up from $4.8 billion.
- Costco now operates 914 warehouses worldwide, including 629 in the U.S. and Puerto Rico, with additional clubs across Canada, Mexico, Europe, Asia and Oceania. ^[24]

In short, Costco is still growing faster than most mature retailers, with particularly strong digital and international trends.

Dividend, special-dividend chatter and a new recall headline

Regular dividend and yield

Costco’s board declared a $1.30 quarterly cash dividend earlier this year, with the most recent payment on November 14, 2025 to shareholders of record as of October 31. ^[25]

At Friday’s close near $899, that equates to:

Annualized dividend: about $5.20 per share
Dividend yield: roughly 0.6% — low, but backed by strong free cash flow and a long record of increases. ^[26]

Costco has also paid occasional large special dividends — for example, $15 per share in January 2024, and several similar one‑off payouts over the last decade. ^[27]

Special dividend speculation

Commentary earlier this year from outlets like 24/7 Wall St and MarketBeat has argued that Costco’s large cash balance and low leverage make another hefty special dividend plausible in the coming year, with one analyst speculating about a potential $15‑per‑share payout or more. ^[28]

Crucially:

No new special dividend has been announced as of November 22, 2025.
Any future special payout is speculative, even if history and the balance sheet make it a reasonable talking point.

Fresh recall headline

Separate from the stock itself, a newly circulating recall story mentions Costco by name:

Several iHeartRadio local outlets report that Costco has voluntarily recalled certain ready‑to‑eat Caesar Salad and Chicken Sandwich with Caesar Salad items due to possible plastic contamination in the dressing. ^[29]
The recall was originally announced on November 7 and applies to products with sell‑by dates of October 17 and November 9, 2025 at select warehouses in parts of the Midwest, Northeast and Southeast U.S.

For investors, this looks like a limited operational and reputational issue, not a thesis‑changing event. Costco’s long history of proactive quality controls and recalls is part of why customers generally trust the brand, but such headlines are still worth monitoring.

Valuation, analyst targets and technical backdrop

What Wall Street thinks

Several sources give a snapshot of how analysts see Costco today:

Consensus rating:
- MarketBeat: “Moderate Buy” with 18 Buy and 13 Hold ratings. ^[30]
- Other aggregators list the overall rating simply as “Buy.” ^[31]
Price targets:
- MarketBeat average: about $1,025 per share, with individual targets ranging from roughly $990 (Citigroup) to $1,200 (Argus). ^[32]
- Zacks: short‑term average target around $1,078, based on 28 analysts. ^[33]
- StockAnalysis: average 12‑month target of $1,064, implying about 18% upside from current levels. ^[34]

Taken together, Wall Street still expects mid‑teens upside over the next year, but nowhere near the explosive returns Costco delivered over the past decade.

How expensive is COST?

Depending on the source and exact timing:

Trailing P/E: roughly 49–50x earnings
Forward P/E: around 45x based on next year’s estimates ^[35]

That’s a substantial premium to:

The broader S&P 500 (low‑ to mid‑20s P/E range in recent data), and
Many other big‑box or grocery peers, which often trade in the mid‑teens to 20s.

Today’s Motley Fool coverage explicitly flags this as the core risk: you’re paying up for quality, and multiple compression (the P/E coming down) could cap returns even if earnings keep growing. ^[36]

Short‑term technical picture

On the technical side, the signals are more cautious:

A StockInvest.us update dated November 21 downgraded Costco to a short‑term “sell candidate”, even as the stock gained 0.64% Friday. It notes that COST has fallen in six of the last ten sessions, is down roughly 2–3% over that period, and is trading well below recent highs. ^[37]
Statmuse data show that Costco’s monthly close is noticeably below its 2025 peak, consistent with commentary that shares are about 17% off their highs. ^[38]

In plain language: fundamentals look strong, but the chart is no longer in “straight up and to the right” mode.

Retail environment: headwinds and tailwinds for Costco

Today’s broader retail coverage paints a nuanced macro picture:

Bloomberg describes a holiday season where many retailers are hoping for an “unlikely miracle” to salvage a rough 2025, with shoppers pulling back amid higher borrowing costs, a softer job market and lingering inflation pressure. ^[39]
Yahoo Finance reports that low‑income consumers in particular are under strain, while discount‑oriented chains and warehouse clubs continue to capture budget‑conscious traffic. ^[40]

For Costco, this environment is a double‑edged sword:

Positive: Costco’s low‑price, bulk‑value proposition often looks more attractive when households are watching every dollar. Analysts frequently highlight Costco as a defensive name that can gain share when consumers “trade down.” ^[41]
Negative: The same macro headwinds can limit how much multiple expansion investors are willing to pay for any retailer, especially one already valued at nearly 50x earnings.

So… is Costco stock a buy today?

Only you can decide whether to buy, hold or avoid Costco stock, based on your goals, time horizon and risk tolerance. But here’s how the picture looks as of November 22, 2025:

Bullish points

Exceptional business quality:
- Consistent high‑single‑digit revenue growth and mid‑single‑digit comp growth across regions. ^[42]
- A sticky membership model with high renewal rates and growing fee income. ^[43]
- Expanding international footprint and strong e‑commerce growth. ^[44]
Financial strength:
- Billions in cash and short‑term investments, relatively modest long‑term debt, and robust operating cash flow. ^[45]
- Capacity to raise the regular dividend and occasionally issue large special dividends without stressing the balance sheet. ^[46]
Institutional and analyst support:
- High institutional ownership with several funds adding to positions. ^[47]
- Consensus Buy / Moderate Buy rating and double‑digit upside implied by average price targets. ^[48]

Bearish / cautious points

Rich valuation: A trailing P/E near 50x and forward P/E in the mid‑40s leave relatively little room for error. Even minor disappointments or a shift in risk appetite could hit the stock. ^[49]
Short‑term technical weakness: Recent downgrades from technical services and a pattern of lower highs suggest the path of least resistance in the near term might not be straight up. ^[50]
Macro backdrop: A pressured consumer, especially at the low end, introduces uncertainty around discretionary categories and mix, even if Costco’s value proposition remains compelling. ^[51]

How different types of investors might think about COST now

Long‑term, quality‑focused investors
May accept the premium valuation as the price of owning a durable, wide‑moat retailer with strong cash flows, and choose strategies like dollar‑cost averaging rather than trying to time the exact bottom.
Value or total‑return investors
Might look at the sub‑1% dividend yield and ~50x earnings and decide to wait for either a pullback, a special dividend announcement, or more evidence of accelerating earnings before committing new capital.
Short‑term traders
Are likely to focus on the recent technical downgrade and range‑bound price, watching for catalysts such as the next earnings call (currently scheduled around December 11, 2025) or any confirmed news related to special dividends or membership fee changes. ^[52]

Key takeaways for Costco shareholders today

Price: Costco is hovering around $899, nearer the bottom of its 52‑week range than the top. ^[53]
News flow: Today’s headlines lean constructively cautious — bullish on the business, wary of valuation. ^[54]
Fundamentals: Fiscal 2025 showed healthy growth in sales, comps, membership fees and profits. ^[55]
Ownership and sentiment: Institutions remain heavily invested, and analysts still see upside, but technical indicators have cooled from “can’t‑miss” to mixed. ^[56]
Risk‑reward: Costco looks like a high‑quality, lower‑yield, premium‑valuation compounder where the main risk isn’t the business — it’s what you’re paying for it.

Nothing here is personalized financial advice, but if you follow Costco, today is a good moment to revisit your thesis: Do you own it for multi‑year compounding, for income (including potential specials), or for a trade? Your answer to that question will matter more than any single day’s headlines.

Costco Stock Analysis | Q4 2025 Earnings & Outlook Explained