Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) Trading 0.6% Higher on Analyst Upgrade

Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) traded up 0.6% on Friday after Loop Capital raised their price target on the stock from $890.00 to $940.00. Loop Capital currently has a buy rating on the stock. Costco Wholesale traded as high as $851.18 and last traded at $851.04. 290,858 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 85% from the average session volume of 1,961,699 shares. The stock had previously closed at $845.96.

Several other brokerages have also recently weighed in on COST. Roth Mkm reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $676.00 price objective (up from $650.00) on shares of Costco Wholesale in a report on Friday, May 31st. Gordon Haskett lowered Costco Wholesale from a “buy” rating to an “accumulate” rating and set a $775.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on Costco Wholesale from $845.00 to $860.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, May 31st. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Costco Wholesale from $750.00 to $775.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 31st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $875.00 price target (up previously from $800.00) on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research note on Friday, May 31st. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $751.85.

Insider Buying and Selling at Costco Wholesale

In other Costco Wholesale news, EVP Russell D. Miller sold 785 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $722.86, for a total value of $567,445.10. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 10,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,228,600. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. raised its stake in Costco Wholesale by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 28,855 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $16,302,000 after buying an additional 273 shares during the period. Main Street Financial Solutions LLC raised its stake in Costco Wholesale by 4.7% during the 4th quarter. Main Street Financial Solutions LLC now owns 1,763 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,164,000 after buying an additional 79 shares during the period. Cerity Partners LLC raised its stake in Costco Wholesale by 28.9% during the 4th quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 272,288 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $179,822,000 after buying an additional 61,122 shares during the period. Metis Global Partners LLC raised its stake in Costco Wholesale by 15.6% during the 4th quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 21,514 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $14,201,000 after buying an additional 2,909 shares during the period. Finally, Zhang Financial LLC raised its stake in Costco Wholesale by 3.8% during the 1st quarter. Zhang Financial LLC now owns 1,010 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $740,000 after buying an additional 37 shares during the period. 68.48% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Costco Wholesale Trading Up 1.1 %

The business has a 50 day moving average of $774.06 and a two-hundred day moving average of $722.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a current ratio of 0.94. The firm has a market capitalization of $379.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 53.02, a P/E/G ratio of 5.60 and a beta of 0.79.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 30th. The retailer reported $3.78 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.70 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $58.52 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $58.16 billion. Costco Wholesale had a return on equity of 30.02% and a net margin of 2.83%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $3.43 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 15.96 EPS for the current year.

Costco Wholesale Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 26th were issued a dividend of $1.16 per share. This is a positive change from Costco Wholesale’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.02. This represents a $4.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.54%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 25th. Costco Wholesale’s payout ratio is currently 28.75%.

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.