Costco Declares a Record $30 Special Dividend Worth About $13.3 Billion and Renews Its $4 Billion Buyback

Costco Wholesale Corp. declared a special cash dividend of $30 per share on Tuesday, Nov. 10, 2026, a payout the warehouse-club operator said will total about $13.3 billion. The board also reauthorized a stock repurchase program of up to $4 billion, the company said in a release on its investor relations site.

The terms

The special dividend is payable on Dec. 4, 2026, to shareholders of record at the close of business on Nov. 24, 2026. The announcement, distributed through GlobeNewswire at 4:15 p.m. ET, came after the regular trading session had closed.

The new buyback authorization runs until November 2030. It replaces the existing $4 billion program, which was adopted in 2023 and had been scheduled to expire in January 2027, and under which Costco had repurchased $3.1 billion of stock. A repurchase authorization sets a ceiling and does not require the company to buy any shares.

The special payout comes on top of Costco's regular quarterly dividend. According to StockTitan, which reviewed the company's filings, Costco will pay its regular dividend of $1.47 per share on Nov. 13 to holders of record on Oct. 30, as announced on Oct. 14. That rate equals $5.88 a share annually following an increase in April 2026.

The largest of six specials

The $30 payment is the largest of the six special dividends Costco has declared since 2012, both per share and in total, according to StockTitan's review of the company's past releases. It is twice the $15 special declared in December 2023 and paid in January 2024, which totaled about $6.7 billion. Earlier specials were $7 a share in 2012, $5 in 2015, $7 in 2017 and $10 in 2020. Seeking Alpha described the announcement as Costco's first special dividend in almost three years.

Measured against the regular payout, the special equals about 20.4 quarterly dividends at the current $1.47 rate, compared with about 14 for each special declared from 2015 through 2023, StockTitan calculated. Measured against the share price, it is about 2.8% of Costco's official Nov. 10 close of $1,066.14, close to the 2.4% ratio of the 2023 special.

Balance sheet context

Costco held $20.2 billion in cash and cash equivalents at the end of its fiscal year on Aug. 30, 2026, up from $14.2 billion a year earlier, according to figures from its annual report cited by StockTitan. That means the special dividend equals roughly two-thirds of the year-end cash balance. Operations generated $15.8 billion of cash in fiscal 2026, while capital spending on property and equipment was $6.4 billion. Long-term debt stood at $6.2 billion, with $2.2 billion due within a year.

The release does not say whether the payment will be funded from cash, borrowing or both. In past specials, Costco used existing cash and new borrowing in 2015, mainly borrowing in 2017 and existing cash in 2020, according to the company's announcements at the time. StockTitan reported that Costco had 443.1 million shares outstanding as of Sept. 29.

In fiscal 2026, Costco bought back 891,000 shares for $847 million, at an average price of $950.90, according to the annual report figures. The special dividend is roughly four times the $3.1 billion spent over nearly four years under the 2023 buyback plan.

Share reaction and recent sales

Costco shares traded at $1,083 at 4:25 p.m. ET in after-hours trading on Tuesday, up from the $1,066.14 close, StockTitan reported. Stocktwits, in a report published on Yahoo Finance, said the stock traded nearly 2% higher in overnight trading.

The announcement followed Costco's October sales report last week, which showed net sales of $24.50 billion for the retail month, up 12.6% from a year earlier, according to the Stocktwits report. Total comparable sales rose 11.1% for the four-week period, and 7.3% when excluding changes in gasoline prices and foreign exchange. Digitally enabled sales rose 22.5%. The same report said JPMorgan analyst Christopher Horvers had raised his price target on the stock to $1,150 from $1,015 while keeping an Overweight rating.

Key dates

Under Nasdaq's ex-dividend rule, a cash dividend worth less than 25% of a stock's value goes ex-dividend on the record date, so the ex-date for the special would be expected on Nov. 24, StockTitan noted, adding that Nasdaq had not yet listed the payment as of Tuesday afternoon. Buyers on or after the ex-dividend date do not receive the payment. Costco is scheduled to pay the special on Dec. 4. StockTitan said the release puts Costco's warehouse count at 945.