Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) Trading Up 0.2%

Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)’s stock price shot up 0.2% during mid-day trading on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $718.95 and last traded at $716.31. 536,442 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 74% from the average session volume of 2,080,300 shares. The stock had previously closed at $715.19.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently issued reports on COST. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $795.00 to $805.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. DA Davidson reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $680.00 price target on shares of Costco Wholesale in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Telsey Advisory Group reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $800.00 price target on shares of Costco Wholesale in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Gordon Haskett downgraded Costco Wholesale from a “buy” rating to an “accumulate” rating and set a $775.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Finally, Tigress Financial increased their price target on Costco Wholesale from $745.00 to $870.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 15th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $691.28.

Costco Wholesale Price Performance

The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $730.83 and a 200-day moving average price of $659.23. The firm has a market capitalization of $315.56 billion, a PE ratio of 46.85, a P/E/G ratio of 4.77 and a beta of 0.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a current ratio of 0.93.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 7th. The retailer reported $3.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.62 by $0.09. Costco Wholesale had a return on equity of 28.80% and a net margin of 2.73%. The business had revenue of $58.44 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $59.11 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $3.30 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 15.84 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Costco Wholesale Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 26th will be issued a $1.16 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 25th. This is an increase from Costco Wholesale’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.02. This represents a $4.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.65%. Costco Wholesale’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 26.68%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director W Craig Jelinek sold 8,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $685.93, for a total value of $5,487,440.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 216,212 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $148,306,297.16. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, Director W Craig Jelinek sold 8,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $685.93, for a total value of $5,487,440.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 216,212 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $148,306,297.16. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Susan L. Decker sold 1,442 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $723.48, for a total value of $1,043,258.16. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 12,395 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,967,534.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 10,942 shares of company stock worth $7,602,943. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Costco Wholesale

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. lifted its position in Costco Wholesale by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 28,855 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $16,302,000 after acquiring an additional 273 shares during the period. Keating Investment Counselors Inc. lifted its position 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 acquiring an additional 795 shares during the period. Cerity Partners LLC lifted its position in Costco Wholesale by 28.9% during the 4th quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 272,288 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $179,822,000 after acquiring an additional 61,122 shares during the period. Rice Partnership LLC lifted its position 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 acquiring an additional 2,038 shares during the period. Finally, Rappaport Reiches Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Costco Wholesale by 23.5% during the 4th quarter. Rappaport Reiches Capital Management LLC now owns 814 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $538,000 after acquiring an additional 155 shares during the period. 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.