Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) Trading 0.7% Higher – Here’s Why

Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)’s share price shot up 0.7% during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $926.17 and last traded at $914.92. 877,390 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 56% from the average session volume of 1,972,863 shares. The stock had previously closed at $908.75.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

COST has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,050.00 to $1,070.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $840.00 to $1,040.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Raymond James raised their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $990.00 to $1,030.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Barclays upped their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $940.00 to $980.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, March 10th. Finally, Cowen reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-one have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,024.03.

Costco Wholesale Trading Down 0.1 %

The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $984.05 and its 200 day simple moving average is $949.09. The firm has a market cap of $427.45 billion, a PE ratio of 56.57, a PEG ratio of 6.15 and a beta of 0.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a current ratio of 0.98.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, March 6th. The retailer reported $4.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $4.09 by ($0.07). Costco Wholesale had a return on equity of 32.31% and a net margin of 2.93%. The company had revenue of $63.72 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $63.02 billion. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 18.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Costco Wholesale Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 21st. Investors of record on Friday, February 7th were issued a dividend of $1.16 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 7th. This represents a $4.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.48%. Costco Wholesale’s dividend payout ratio is 27.09%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Roland Michael Vachris sold 3,600 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $931.00, for a total value of $3,351,600.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 41,077 shares in the company, valued at approximately $38,242,687. The trade was a 8.06 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Claudine Adamo sold 900 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $922.56, for a total value of $830,304.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 6,987 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,445,926.72. This represents a 11.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 5,600 shares of company stock valued at $5,215,915 over the last quarter. 0.18% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Costco Wholesale

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in COST. Investment Management Corp VA ADV bought a new stake in shares of Costco Wholesale in the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. Synergy Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Costco Wholesale in the 4th quarter worth approximately $31,000. NewSquare Capital LLC increased its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 250.0% during the fourth quarter. NewSquare Capital LLC now owns 35 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 25 shares during the period. Endeavor Private Wealth Inc. bought a new position in shares of Costco Wholesale during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Finally, Collier Financial purchased a new stake in Costco Wholesale in the fourth quarter worth $35,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.