Last week the price of Costco's (Ticker: COST) common stock closed at $302.50 per share. Use the data below to compute Costco's beta, then use the beta to estimate its required cost of equity. The prices have been adjusted for dividends and stock splits. Assume the appropriate risk-free rate is 3.50% and the market risk premium is 5.5%. Show your beta to 4 decimal places. Notice the ordering of the dates when estimating the beta.

Costco's Beta = ________ Costco's Cost of Equity Capital = _______ %

Friday Closing Prices for Costco (COST) and the S&P 500 Index

Week of	Costco Friday Close	SP500 Friday Close
5/13/19	247.75	2859.53
5/20/19	246.75	2826.06
5/27/19	239	2752.06
6/3/19	255.5	2873.34
6/10/19	259.5	2886.98
6/17/19	265.5	2950.46
6/24/19	263.75	2941.76
7/1/19	267.75	2990.41
7/8/19	278.75	3013.77
7/15/19	281	2976.61
7/22/19	280.75	3025.86
7/29/19	272.5	2932.05
8/5/19	273	2918.65
8/12/19	273.5	2888.68
8/19/19	273.5	2847.11
8/26/19	294	2926.46
9/2/19	303.75	2978.71
9/9/19	292	3007.39
9/16/19	286.25	2992.07
9/23/19	286	2961.79
9/30/19	291.75	2952.01
10/7/19	297.5	2970.27
10/14/19	302.5	2997.95