Costco Stock on November 30, 2025: AA Credit Rating, Heavy Institutional Buying and Big Expectations for COST

Published: November 30, 2025

Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ: COST) stock is heading into December with a strange mix of signals: premium valuation, fresh signs of institutional confidence, a new AA credit rating, and several looming catalysts that could jolt the share price in either direction.

As of the latest close on Friday, November 28, 2025, Costco stock traded around $913.59 per share, giving the warehouse giant a market capitalization of just over $400 billion. ^[1] That’s below its 52‑week high of $1,078.23 but still far from bargain-bin territory, with a trailing price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio just about 50 and a price/earnings-to-growth (PEG) ratio near 5.5. ^[2]

Here’s what investors need to know today about COST stock, based on the latest news and data up to November 30, 2025.

1. Costco stock today: rich valuation after a pullback

Recent coverage from both The Motley Fool and Nasdaq highlights the same core tension: Costco’s business looks excellent, but its stock is expensive. One recent Nasdaq/Motley Fool piece notes that the stock is trading at a P/E above 50, even after a roughly 11–15% slide from its 52-week high, and warns that such a rich multiple leaves little margin of safety if expectations slip. ^[3]

MarketBeat’s latest institutional-ownership summaries put more precise numbers on the valuation. Recent reports show: ^[4]

P/E ratio: ~49–50
PEG ratio: ~5.54
Market cap: ~$402–405 billion
52-week range: about $871.71 to $1,078.23

Despite this year’s wobble, long-term performance remains standout. A recent Motley Fool article points out that while Costco’s one‑year return is actually a 7% decline, the shares are up about 72% over three years and 147% over five years, underscoring how strongly the stock has rewarded patient holders. ^[5]

So the short version: Costco stock is no longer euphoric, but it is still priced like a high‑quality compounder, not a beaten‑down retailer.

2. Big money keeps buying COST — even as others trim

This weekend’s freshest news around COST is dominated by institutional activity.

Several new 13F filings, summarized by MarketBeat in alerts dated November 22–29, show a wave of professional investors increasing or adjusting their Costco stakes: ^[6]

West Family Investments Inc. boosted its Costco position by 260.9% in Q2, now holding 2,306 shares worth about $2.28 million, with COST becoming its 28th-largest holding.
Mackenzie Financial Corp increased its stake by 2.4% to 166,398 shares, valued at roughly $164.7 million.
A separate report highlights larger institutions such as Vanguard Group, which now owns over 43.3 million shares worth around $42.9 billion, and other major holders like Geode Capital and Norges Bank.
Rhumbline Advisers, by contrast, trimmed its Costco position by 2.3%, selling 20,541 shares to end Q2 with 863,436 shares valued at about $854.8 million.

In total, these filings point to roughly 68% of Costco’s shares held by institutions and hedge funds, reinforcing the idea that Costco is a core “quality” position in countless professional portfolios. ^[7]

There’s also a political angle: a MarketBeat alert from November 20 notes that Rep. Gilbert Ray Cisneros, Jr. (D‑California) disclosed a personal Costco stock purchase in October, in the $1,001–$15,000 range, adding COST to a broader portfolio of U.S. and international equities. ^[8] While the dollar amount is small relative to Costco’s size, congressional trading in mega‑cap names often draws public attention and can reinforce the perception of Costco as a blue‑chip “buy and hold” pick.

3. Membership machine still humming: fees, renewals and growth

Costco’s membership model remains the heart of the bullish thesis, and recent reporting suggests the engine is still very much alive.

A detailed Zacks research piece (published on Nasdaq on November 26) comparing Costco with BJ’s Wholesale highlights several key data points from Costco’s most recent quarter: ^[9]

Membership renewal rates: about 92.3% in the U.S. and Canada and 89.8% worldwide in Q4 fiscal 2025.
Membership fee income: up 14% year over year to $1.724 billion for the quarter.
October net sales: up 8.6% year over year to $21.75 billion.
Digitally enabled comparable sales: surged 16.6% in October.

A separate deep-dive from The Spokesman‑Review into Costco’s higher-fee test markets and membership trends provides even more context: ^[10]

Since September 2024, U.S. individual memberships cost $65 per year (up from $60), while Executive memberships cost $130 (up from $120).
Individual memberships grew to 68.3 million and business memberships to 12.7 million by the end of fiscal 2025.
Global renewal rates remain around 90%, with U.S. renewal about 92%.
Net sales jumped about 8%, and membership fee revenue climbed roughly 10% in fiscal 2025, helped by both fee increases and new sign‑ups.
Costco now operates about 914 warehouses worldwide, up from 890 a year earlier.

Taken together, the data show a company that has successfully pushed through membership fee hikes while keeping renewal rates extremely high — a rare combination in a pressured consumer environment.

4. Sales momentum into fiscal 2026

If memberships are the engine, net sales are the speedometer.

A recent Yahoo Finance summary (mid‑November) noted that Costco’s net sales grew about 8.3% over the first nine weeks of fiscal 2026, reaching roughly $48.33 billion. ^[11] That dovetails nicely with the October sales strength highlighted in the Zacks/Nasdaq comparison, where management’s focus on e‑commerce and “digitally enabled” shopping is clearly paying off. ^[12]

On the profitability side, multiple MarketBeat pieces summarizing Costco’s September 25 earnings release note that the company: ^[13]

Beat EPS expectations, reporting $5.87 vs. around $5.80–$5.81 consensus.
Delivered revenue of about $86.16 billion, up 8.1% year over year.
Sustained a net margin near 2.94% and return on equity (ROE) of about 30%.

Those margins may look thin compared to tech or luxury brands, but for a high‑volume warehouse retailer, they underscore Costco’s ability to turn low markups and high turnover into serious shareholder returns.

5. New AA credit rating from Fitch: balance sheet gets a vote of confidence

On November 25, 2025, Fitch Ratings assigned Costco an “AA” long-term Issuer Default Rating (IDR) with a Stable outlook. ^[14]

While the full text of the report is behind Fitch’s interface, the key takeaway in the summary is straightforward:

An AA rating places Costco among the higher‑quality corporate credits globally.
The stable outlook reflects confidence in Costco’s cash flow, conservative leverage and highly resilient business model.

That meshes with the company’s balance sheet metrics from recent filings: a debt‑to‑equity ratio of roughly 0.20, current ratio around 1.03, and quick ratio about 0.55, all for a firm approaching half a trillion dollars in market cap. ^[15]

For equity investors, an AA rating means low refinancing risk and plenty of room for future dividends, special dividends, or buybacks should management choose.

6. Dividends: small yield, steady growth

Costco isn’t a high‑yield stock, but it has become a quietly reliable dividend grower.

A recent press-release summary from QuiverQuant, dated October 15, details Costco’s latest dividend decision: ^[16]

Quarterly dividend:$1.30 per share
Payment date: November 14, 2025
Annualized dividend:$5.20 per share, for a yield of roughly 0.6% at current prices
Payout ratio: about 28–29% of earnings

Analysts and long‑term forecasters increasingly view Costco as a future “dividend blue chip” as earnings grow into the payout. A 24/7 Wall St. forecast published November 6 argues that Costco’s consistent revenue, earnings and membership growth set the stage for continued dividend expansion over the next decade. ^[17]

7. What Wall Street and models expect from COST

Street price targets and ratings

Across multiple MarketBeat summaries and analyst roundups, Costco currently carries a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” with an average price target around $1,025 per share, implying low‑double‑digit upside from current levels. ^[18]

Some specific recent moves: ^[19]

JPMorgan, Oppenheimer, Evercore ISI, Truist and others have trimmed their targets but mostly kept Overweight/Outperform or Buy ratings.
A few firms, including Roth Capital and some Zacks‑tracked analysts, maintain more cautious Hold or “peer perform” views, citing the rich valuation.

Zacks notes that the consensus forecast still calls for sales growth around 7.7% and EPS growth around 11% for the current fiscal year, with estimate revisions ticking slightly upward in recent months. ^[20]

Discounted cash flow and valuation warnings

At the same time, valuation-focused research is blunt. A recent Yahoo Finance DCF analysis estimates that Costco shares may be about 35% overvalued relative to a cash‑flow‑based fair value model. ^[21]

The Nasdaq/Motley Fool piece on “buying the dip” echoes this, stressing that even after the pullback, Costco’s P/E is still well above its own five‑year average (around 45) and far higher than typical mid‑single‑digit revenue growers. ^[22]

Quant and long-term forecasts

Two separate long‑term forecasting efforts have grabbed investor attention in late November:

24/7 Wall St. projects Costco could reach roughly $1,013 within a year and about $1,599 by 2030, implying around 70% upside over five years if EPS rises to about $27.70 and the P/E moderates to 37. ^[23]
A Benzinga forecast article aggregates analyst sentiment and algorithmic projections, suggesting average model paths that see Costco above $1,400 by 2030, with bullish scenarios north of $1,600. ^[24]

These long‑range models are, of course, educated guesses rather than guarantees, but they illustrate a broad narrative: even if Costco de‑rates a bit, sustained earnings growth could still justify a higher share price over time.

8. Key near-term catalysts for Costco stock

November sales update – December 3, 2025

Costco’s investor relations calendar lists November 2025 sales results as an event scheduled for December 3, 2025. ^[25] Monthly and quarterly sales updates often move Costco stock, especially when they shed light on membership trends, gas price effects, or e‑commerce growth.

Q1 2026 earnings results – December 11, 2025

More importantly, Costco’s Q1 2026 earnings call is slated for December 11, 2025 at 1:15 p.m. PT. ^[26]

Analysts currently expect: ^[27]

EPS around $4.24–$4.30 for the quarter (consensus varies slightly by source).
Revenue in the ballpark of $67 billion.

Given the recent pullback in the stock and the intense debate around valuation, any surprise — positive or negative — on membership renewals, fee income, or same‑store sales could trigger an outsized move in COST.

9. Risks and headwinds investors are watching

Despite the strong fundamentals, recent research pieces highlight several real risks around Costco stock:

Valuation risk
Multiple outlets — from Motley Fool to 24/7 Wall St. and Yahoo’s DCF tools — warn that Costco’s current valuation bakes in very high expectations. A slip in growth, or a broader de‑rating of high‑P/E defensive names, could compress the multiple even if operations remain solid. ^[28]
Macro and tariff uncertainty
Long‑range forecasts at Benzinga and 24/7 Wall St. emphasize tariff risk and broader geopolitical supply‑chain issues as major unknowns. Tariffs could temporarily boost sales (as shoppers rush to beat price hikes) but might eventually pressure volumes and margins if higher prices stick. ^[29]
Consumer strain and fee sensitivity
While recent fee hikes haven’t dented renewal rates yet, analysts note that younger, more price‑sensitive online sign‑ups show slightly higher churn, and management has cautioned that renewal rates could drift modestly lower into 2026 if inflation or job markets worsen. ^[30]
Competition
Costco faces intensifying competition from Sam’s Club, BJ’s Wholesale and big-box grocers, many of which are ramping up their own membership and digital offerings. Zacks’ Costco vs. BJ’s comparison still favors Costco overall, but BJ’s is pushing hard on fresh food, digital convenience and new club openings. ^[31]

In short: the business looks robust; the stock price is where the debate lives.

10. What it all means for Costco stock on November 30, 2025

Putting the latest news together, Costco’s investment story as of today looks something like this:

Quality and resilience: Membership metrics, sales growth and profitability all remain strong. Costco continues to deliver high‑single‑digit revenue growth, double‑digit membership fee growth and near‑30% ROE. ^[32]
Balance sheet strength: The new AA rating from Fitch confirms what the numbers already suggested: Costco is a financially conservative giant with significant flexibility. ^[33]
Institutional conviction: Big funds and asset managers continue to add to their Costco positions, even as some trim or rebalance. Overall, institutions hold more than two‑thirds of the float. ^[34]
Rich but not absurd valuation: The stock has cooled from nosebleed levels, but with a P/E near 50, it still assumes years of steady growth and very few missteps. DCF models and value‑oriented commentators warn that upside from here could be limited if multiples compress. ^[35]
Near-term catalysts loom: November sales numbers (Dec. 3) and Q1 2026 earnings (Dec. 11) will give investors fresh data on whether Costco is merely “expensive” or still “expensive and accelerating.” ^[36]

For traders, that combination likely means continued volatility around headlines and earnings. For long‑term shareholders, the decision is more philosophical: How much are you willing to pay for a business with Costco’s track record, balance sheet and membership moat?

Either way, Costco enters December 2025 as one of the market’s clearest examples of a great business whose stock price demands careful homework. This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial advice or a recommendation to buy or sell any securities.

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