Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) Shares Down 0.4%

Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)’s stock price dropped 0.4% on Wednesday . The stock traded as low as $727.75 and last traded at $728.39. Approximately 312,104 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 85% from the average daily volume of 2,150,617 shares. The stock had previously closed at $730.98.

Analyst Ratings Changes

COST has been the topic of several analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $610.00 to $675.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 8th. DA Davidson boosted their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $570.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, December 15th. Raymond James boosted their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $580.00 to $670.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 15th. Loop Capital upped their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $710.00 to $755.00 in a research report on Friday, January 19th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Costco Wholesale from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, March 8th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $668.50.

Costco Wholesale Price Performance

The stock has a market cap of $324.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 47.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.06 and a beta of 0.77. The company has a current ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $724.29 and its 200-day simple moving average is $642.61.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 7th. The retailer reported $3.71 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.62 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $58.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $59.11 billion. Costco Wholesale had a return on equity of 28.80% and a net margin of 2.73%. The business’s revenue was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $3.30 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 15.82 EPS for the current year.

Costco Wholesale Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 2nd were paid a dividend of $1.02 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 1st. This represents a $4.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.56%. Costco Wholesale’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 26.68%.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP Yoram Rubanenko sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $680.33, for a total transaction of $1,700,825.00. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 5,910 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,020,750.30. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other Costco Wholesale news, VP Yoram Rubanenko sold 2,500 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $680.33, for a total transaction of $1,700,825.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 5,910 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,020,750.30. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Daniel M. Hines sold 1,400 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $662.30, for a total value of $927,220.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 13,922 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,220,540.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 15,582 shares of company stock valued at $10,736,778 over the last three months. 0.18% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 1.0% during the third quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 28,855 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $16,302,000 after buying an additional 273 shares in the last quarter. Keating Investment Counselors Inc. lifted its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 43.0% during the 3rd quarter. Keating Investment Counselors Inc. now owns 2,643 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,493,000 after purchasing an additional 795 shares during the last quarter. Rice Partnership LLC lifted its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 21.0% during the 3rd quarter. Rice Partnership LLC now owns 11,741 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $6,633,000 after purchasing an additional 2,038 shares during the last quarter. Cyndeo Wealth Partners LLC raised its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 79.6% in the 4th quarter. Cyndeo Wealth Partners LLC now owns 10,358 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $6,837,000 after acquiring an additional 4,592 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Resources Management Corp CT ADV raised its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 1,396.0% in the 2nd quarter. Resources Management Corp CT ADV now owns 14,960 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $8,054,000 after acquiring an additional 13,960 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.48% of the company’s stock.

Costco Wholesale Company Profile

Costco Wholesale Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the operation of membership warehouses in the United States, Puerto Rico, Canada, Mexico, Japan, the United Kingdom, Korea, Australia, Taiwan, China, Spain, France, Iceland, New Zealand, and Sweden. The company offers branded and private-label products in a range of merchandise categories.