Costco Declares $30 Special Dividend Totaling $13.3 Billion, Renews $4 Billion Buyback

Costco Wholesale has declared a special cash dividend of $30 per share, totaling $13.3 billion, according to a report from Morningstar. The company also said its board authorized a new $4 billion stock buyback program set to run through November 2030. Per-share figures compiled by financial commentator WOLF Financial show the payout is the largest of Costco's special dividends going back to 2012.

Dividend and Buyback Details

The special dividend is payable Dec. 4 to shareholders of record as of Nov. 24, Morningstar reported, citing Costco's Tuesday announcement. The $13.3 billion total figure was corroborated by financial commentator WOLF Financial on X, which described the payout as "a one-time $30 per share, about $13.3 billion in total."

Costco's board also renewed its share buyback authorization at $4 billion, with the new program extending through November 2030, per Morningstar and WOLF Financial. The new authorization replaces a prior $4 billion buyback program that had been set to expire in January; under that program, Costco had purchased $3.1 billion of shares, Morningstar reported.

Based on the reported figures, dividing the $13.3 billion total payout by the $30-per-share rate implies roughly 443 million shares outstanding (13.3 billion divided by 30), a calculation we performed using the two figures disclosed in the reporting rather than a separately confirmed share count.

A History of Growing Special Payouts

Tuesday's $30-per-share dividend continues a pattern of periodic special payouts from Costco. According to per-share figures compiled by WOLF Financial, the company paid $7 per share in 2012, $5 in 2015, $7 in 2017, $10 in 2020, and $15 in 2024, before this year's $30 declaration.

By our calculation using those WOLF Financial figures, the new $30 payout is double the $15 special dividend Costco paid in 2024, and three times the $10 special dividend distributed in 2020. Whether this acceleration reflects a broader shift in capital-return policy or a one-time decision tied to current cash levels is not addressed in the available reporting, and we would caution against reading a fixed cadence into two data points.

How the Market and Analysts Are Framing It

Simply Wall St, in commentary published alongside the announcement, noted that Costco carries a market value of about $472.4 billion, framing the dividend and buyback as "choices by a very large retailer rather than a niche player," according to Yahoo Finance's report on the Simply Wall St analysis.

Separately, Simply Wall St's narrative-based valuation work points to a $1,058 fair value estimate for Costco, as reported by both Yahoo Finance and Simply Wall St directly. That figure is a model-derived estimate from Simply Wall St's own methodology, not a traditional sell-side price target, and should be read as one analytical firm's framework rather than a consensus view.

Simply Wall St's commentary also characterized the trade-offs around the announcement in qualitative terms, noting that "analysts have flagged earnings growth as a key reward and insider selling as a minor risk," and suggesting the combined dividend-and-buyback move "leans toward" the growth case while still warranting attention to "execution and regulatory issues," per Simply Wall St's own report. This is Simply Wall St's framing of risk and reward, not independently verified financial analysis, and readers should treat it as one firm's interpretation rather than a guaranteed outcome.

Bottom Line

Costco's $30 special dividend is the largest per-share special payout in the figures compiled by WOLF Financial, double the $15 distributed in 2024 and triple the $10 paid in 2020. Paired with a renewed $4 billion buyback authorization running through November 2030, the announcement points to a continued willingness to return cash to shareholders at scale. The available reporting does not detail how the $13.3 billion payout will be funded or how the stock has traded since the announcement.