Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) Receives Average Recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from Brokerages

Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST – Get Free Report) has been assigned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the eighteen analysts that are covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and fourteen have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1 year price target among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $562.67.

COST has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Telsey Advisory Group reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $575.00 price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research report on Monday, July 31st. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $575.00 to $630.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 25th. Loop Capital lifted their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $545.00 to $570.00 in a research report on Friday, June 2nd. VNET Group reiterated a “reiterates” rating on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research note on Thursday, June 29th. Finally, Truist Financial lifted their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $567.00 to $597.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 3rd.

Get Our Latest Report on COST

Insider Transactions at Costco Wholesale

In other news, CFO Richard A. Galanti sold 1,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $522.02, for a total transaction of $783,030.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 23,850 shares in the company, valued at $12,450,177. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, CFO Richard A. Galanti sold 1,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $522.02, for a total transaction of $783,030.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 23,850 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,450,177. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Susan L. Decker sold 1,565 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $533.00, for a total transaction of $834,145.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 13,329 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,104,357. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.22% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Costco Wholesale

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Morgan Stanley lifted its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 18.0% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 8,634,627 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $3,941,708,000 after purchasing an additional 1,315,174 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 2.7% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,430,277 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $4,525,419,000 after purchasing an additional 219,892 shares in the last quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 118,320.2% in the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 7,396,524 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $3,376,513,000 after purchasing an additional 7,390,278 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 4.6% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 5,851,678 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $3,150,426,000 after purchasing an additional 256,155 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Costco Wholesale in the fourth quarter valued at about $2,328,844,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.88% of the company’s stock.

Costco Wholesale Stock Performance

Shares of COST stock opened at $562.96 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.57, a current ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28. Costco Wholesale has a 52 week low of $447.90 and a 52 week high of $571.16. The stock has a market capitalization of $249.45 billion, a PE ratio of 41.70, a P/E/G ratio of 4.44 and a beta of 0.79. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $540.25 and a two-hundred day moving average of $511.66.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST – Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 25th. The retailer reported $3.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.32 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $53.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $54.58 billion. Costco Wholesale had a net margin of 2.55% and a return on equity of 28.18%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $3.17 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Costco Wholesale will post 14.39 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Costco Wholesale Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 8th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 25th will be paid a dividend of $1.02 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 24th. This represents a $4.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.72%. Costco Wholesale’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 30.22%.

About Costco Wholesale

(Get Free Report

Costco Wholesale Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the operation of membership warehouses in the United States, Puerto Rico, Canada, the United Kingdom, Mexico, Japan, Korea, Australia, Spain, France, Iceland, China, and Taiwan. It offers branded and private-label products in a range of merchandise categories.