Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST) Receives $1,061.30 Consensus Target Price from Analysts

Shares of Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST) have been assigned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-nine analysts that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have issued a buy rating on the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $1,067.1923.

COST has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $1,130.00 target price on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research note on Friday, September 26th. DA Davidson restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $1,000.00 price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research note on Friday, September 26th. Daiwa Capital Markets decreased their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,005.00 to $947.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday. Telsey Advisory Group restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $1,100.00 price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research note on Wednesday, September 24th. Finally, Evercore ISI decreased their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,060.00 to $1,025.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, September 26th.

Insider Buying and Selling at Costco Wholesale

In other Costco Wholesale news, EVP Russell D. Miller sold 3,381 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $915.00, for a total value of $3,093,615.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 9,740 shares in the company, valued at $8,912,100. This represents a 25.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Yoram Rubanenko sold 4,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $974.96, for a total transaction of $3,899,840.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 5,774 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,629,419.04. This represents a 40.92% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 7,981 shares of company stock worth $7,588,685 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Costco Wholesale

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 1.7% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 43,356,271 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $42,920,107,000 after buying an additional 711,560 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 0.5% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 18,325,416 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $18,141,062,000 after buying an additional 90,107 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 1.5% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 10,275,056 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $10,124,263,000 after buying an additional 150,844 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 106,402.1% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 8,160,190 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $7,717,744,000 after buying an additional 8,152,528 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Costco Wholesale during the second quarter worth about $5,692,035,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.48% of the company’s stock.

Costco Wholesale Stock Down 0.1%

Costco Wholesale stock opened at $916.77 on Friday. Costco Wholesale has a twelve month low of $867.34 and a twelve month high of $1,078.23. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $953.95 and its 200-day simple moving average is $971.03. The company has a current ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. The firm has a market capitalization of $406.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 50.34, a P/E/G ratio of 5.56 and a beta of 0.98.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, September 25th. The retailer reported $5.87 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.81 by $0.06. Costco Wholesale had a return on equity of 30.09% and a net margin of 2.94%.The business had revenue of $86.16 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $86.01 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $5.15 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 8.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that Costco Wholesale will post 18.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Costco Wholesale Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 1st were paid a $1.30 dividend. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 1st. Costco Wholesale’s dividend payout ratio is currently 28.56%.

About Costco Wholesale

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.