Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) Trading 0.2% Higher

Shares of Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) traded up 0.2% during mid-day trading on Friday . The company traded as high as $884.51 and last traded at $878.88. 181,670 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 91% from the average session volume of 1,960,363 shares. The stock had previously closed at $877.56.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the company. Bank of America boosted their price target on Costco Wholesale from $874.00 to $962.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 11th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $710.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, May 31st. Barclays boosted their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $765.00 to $830.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 11th. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $850.00 to $925.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 12th. Finally, Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $850.00 to $975.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 11th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $824.50.

Costco Wholesale Stock Down 0.0 %

The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $850.76 and a 200 day simple moving average of $786.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 0.94 and a quick ratio of 0.45. The stock has a market cap of $389.04 billion, a PE ratio of 54.45, a P/E/G ratio of 5.84 and a beta of 0.78.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 30th. The retailer reported $3.78 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.70 by $0.08. Costco Wholesale had a return on equity of 30.02% and a net margin of 2.83%. The firm had revenue of $58.52 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $58.16 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $3.43 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 9.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 15.98 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Costco Wholesale Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 9th. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 26th were paid a $1.16 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, July 26th. This represents a $4.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.53%. Costco Wholesale’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 28.75%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Costco Wholesale

In other news, insider Daniel M. Hines sold 1,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $844.20, for a total transaction of $1,266,300.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 12,492 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,545,746.40. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, Director Susan L. Decker sold 620 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $876.50, for a total transaction of $543,430.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 11,775 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,320,787.50. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Daniel M. Hines sold 1,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $844.20, for a total value of $1,266,300.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 12,492 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,545,746.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 4,970 shares of company stock worth $4,249,526 over the last 90 days. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Costco Wholesale

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 1.2% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 40,833,870 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $29,916,118,000 after purchasing an additional 473,702 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Costco Wholesale during the 4th quarter worth about $3,628,694,000. Capital World Investors lifted its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 8.1% during the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 3,824,778 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $2,802,147,000 after purchasing an additional 285,533 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 2.5% during the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 3,650,562 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $3,102,941,000 after purchasing an additional 88,550 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 3.2% during the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 2,794,480 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,844,581,000 after purchasing an additional 85,398 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.48% of the company’s stock.

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.