As Costco Raises Its Dividend More Than 13%, Should You Buy, Sell, or Hold COST Stock?

Costco Wholesale (COST) just gave its shareholders a notable reason to smile. The warehouse retail giant’s board of directors approved a quarterly dividend increase, from $1.30 to $1.47 per share, a jump of more than 13%. That works out to $5.88 per share on an annualized basis. The dividend is payable May 15, 2026, to shareholders of record as of May 1, 2026.

Does the double-digit dividend hike mean you should buy COST stock right now, or is it already priced for perfection?

Costco’s ability to grow its dividend consistently comes down to one thing: its robust business model works.

The company now operates 928 warehouses across 14 countries, including 637 in the United States and Puerto Rico. It also runs e-commerce sites in eight markets. That global footprint gives Costco both scale and pricing power that few retailers can match.

The dividend history shown above tells the story well. Back in April 2004, Costco paid $0.40 per share. Today, that number is nearly $5.88, a steady climb over two decades driven by consistent profitability and cash generation.

In fiscal Q2 of 2026, Costco reported net income of $2.035 billion, or $4.58 per share, an increase of 14% year-over-year (YoY). Its net sales rose over 9% to $68.24 billion, while comparable sales rose 7.4%.
Membership fee income, a key indicator of customer loyalty, climbed 13.6% to $1.355 billion. The company ended the quarter with 82.1 million total paid members, up 4.8% from the same time last year.
March sales kept the momentum going. Net sales for the month hit $28.41 billion, up 11.3% from the prior year, according to Andrew Yoon, Costco’s director of finance and investor relations.
Comparable sales, excluding gas and foreign exchange impacts, came in at roughly 7.8%.

Tariffs remain a real wildcard for the big-box retailer.

CEO Ron Vachris addressed this directly on the Q2 earnings call: “The future impact of tariffs remains extremely fluid.”

The company has been working to adapt by shifting sourcing countries, consolidating global buying, and leaning harder into its Kirkland Signature private label, where it controls more of the supply chain.