Costco Wholesale (COST) has increased its quarterly dividend by 14% as the company’s e-commerce sales grow at a brisk pace.
Going forward, Costco will pay a dividend of $1.16 U.S. per share, up from $1.02 U.S. a share previously.
The new dividend will be paid on May 10 to shareholders of record on April 26.
The dividend increase comes as Costco reported that its March sales rose by nearly 10% year-over-year, fueled by strength in the company’s e-commerce unit.
The warehouse club’s net sales increased 9.4% in March from a year ago, reaching $23.5 billion U.S.
March sales were an improvement over February’s 6.9% sales increase.
Same-store sales at Costco climbed 7.7% higher in March from the previous year, which was also better than 5% same-store sales growth in February.
Much of the growth in March came from the company’s online business, with e-commerce sales jumping 28.3% higher from a year earlier.
In February, Costco introduced a new home page for its mobile application, as well as the option for its members to pay for online orders using Apple Pay.
App downloads rose by 2.8 million to a total of 33 million downloads during Costco’s most recent fiscal quarter.
Costco provides monthly updates of its same-store sales performance rather than issuing quarterly or yearly forecasts.
The stock of Costco has increased 45% over the last 12 months to trade at $722.58 U.S. per share.
