The stock closed the regular session at $1,066.14, essentially flat. After the announcement it jumped to around $1,082 within minutes and was near $1,084 at about 5:20 p.m. ET, up about 1.7%, according to Yahoo Finance minute data. After-hours trading is thin and those prices may not hold at Wednesday's open.
A Payout Twice the Size of the Last One
This is Costco's sixth special dividend since 2012 and the largest. StockTitan's tally puts the prior ones at $7 (2012), $5 (2015), $7 (2017), $10 (2020) and $15 (2023). At $30, this one is about 2.8% of Tuesday's closing price and equals roughly 20 of Costco's regular $1.47 quarterly dividends. The regular dividend is separate and unchanged; its record date was October 30.
Nasdaq sets the ex-dividend date, the first day the stock trades without the right to the payout. StockTitan notes that under Nasdaq Rule 11140, a cash dividend worth less than 25% of the share price goes ex on the record date, which would make it Tuesday, November 24. Nasdaq hadn't listed it yet when we checked sources for this article, so confirm the date once it's posted.
How OCC Handled Costco's Last Two Specials
On the ex-date, a stock typically opens lower by roughly the dividend amount, all else equal. If option strikes stayed put, a $30 drop would hand put holders a windfall and take value from call holders. That's why the Options Clearing Corporation (OCC) usually adjusts listed options for large special dividends; ordinary quarterly dividends aren't adjusted.
Costco's own history shows how it has worked:
OCC says it decides each adjustment case by case, and we hadn't seen a memo for this dividend at publication. If it follows the same approach, a COST $1,065 strike would become $1,035 on the ex-date, and the contract would still deliver 100 shares. Our guide to contract adjustments walks through how this works.
Which Expirations Cross November 24
Expiration timing decides whether a contract is affected at all:
| Expiration | ~$1,065 straddle at Tuesday's close | Crosses a Nov 24 ex-date? |
Prices are mid-points from Cboe delayed quotes at the close, before the announcement. Front-week implied volatility (IV) was about 24%, with November 27 around 21%.
The after-hours move of about $18 is already close to the full ~$19 that the November 13 straddle priced for the week. Short-dated options will reprice Wednesday morning to whatever level the stock opens at.
The Early-Exercise Question Mostly Goes Away
With regular dividends, holders of deep in-the-money calls sometimes exercise the day before the ex-date to collect the dividend, and short call sellers can get assigned unexpectedly. If OCC reduces strikes by the full $30, that incentive is largely gone for adjusted contracts: the call holder is compensated through the lower strike instead of the dividend.
There are still a few things to check:
Tuesday's options trading all came before the news. Puts outnumbered calls by about 16,200 to 9,900 contracts, and the busiest contract was the November 13 $1,100 call, with about 1,490 contracts, per Cboe. The OCC options disclosure document covers adjustments and other risks of standardized options.
Sources
*By the OptionsPilot Editorial Team. Published November 10, 2026, 2:24 PM PT. This article is for education only and is not investment advice. Options involve risk and are not suitable for all investors.*
