Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) Shares Down 0% – Should You Sell?

Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)’s stock price was down 0% during trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as low as $981.00 and last traded at $992.46. Approximately 532,731 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 72% from the average daily volume of 1,925,914 shares. The stock had previously closed at $992.87.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently commented on COST shares. Redburn Atlantic downgraded shares of Costco Wholesale from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price target for the company from $860.00 to $890.00 in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $850.00 to $940.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday. Loop Capital boosted their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,005.00 to $1,095.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Tigress Financial reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $1,065.00 price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, DA Davidson boosted their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $880.00 to $900.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nineteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $988.46.

Costco Wholesale Price Performance

The stock’s 50-day moving average is $929.23 and its 200 day moving average is $887.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a current ratio of 0.97 and a quick ratio of 0.44. The company has a market cap of $435.63 billion, a PE ratio of 58.28, a PEG ratio of 6.02 and a beta of 0.82.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, September 26th. The retailer reported $5.15 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.05 by $0.10. Costco Wholesale had a net margin of 2.93% and a return on equity of 33.19%. The company had revenue of $79.70 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $79.91 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $4.86 earnings per share. Costco Wholesale’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 17.83 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Costco Wholesale Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Friday, November 1st were given a dividend of $1.16 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 1st. This represents a $4.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.47%. Costco Wholesale’s payout ratio is 27.25%.

Insider Activity at Costco Wholesale

In other Costco Wholesale news, EVP Richard A. Galanti sold 1,416 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $894.68, for a total transaction of $1,266,866.88. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 27,400 shares in the company, valued at approximately $24,514,232. This represents a 4.91 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Pierre Riel sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $896.71, for a total transaction of $1,793,420.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 10,210 shares in the company, valued at $9,155,409.10. The trade was a 16.38 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 11,016 shares of company stock valued at $9,826,115 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Costco Wholesale

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Legacy Wealth Management LLC MS increased its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 2.7% in the third quarter. Legacy Wealth Management LLC MS now owns 4,033 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $3,575,000 after acquiring an additional 106 shares during the period. DGS Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 12.8% in the third quarter. DGS Capital Management LLC now owns 756 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $671,000 after acquiring an additional 86 shares during the period. FFG Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 0.5% in the third quarter. FFG Partners LLC now owns 23,814 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $21,112,000 after acquiring an additional 129 shares during the period. Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas acquired a new stake in shares of Costco Wholesale in the third quarter worth $9,539,000. Finally, Garde Capital Inc. increased its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 4.3% in the third quarter. Garde Capital Inc. now owns 3,954 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $3,506,000 after acquiring an additional 162 shares during the period. 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.