The Goldman Sachs Group Increases Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) Price Target to $995.00

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) had its price objective upped by analysts at The Goldman Sachs Group from $876.00 to $995.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Friday, Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a “buy” rating on the retailer’s stock. The Goldman Sachs Group’s target price suggests a potential upside of 12.35% from the company’s current price.

COST has been the subject of a number of other reports. TD Cowen raised their price target on Costco Wholesale from $850.00 to $925.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 12th. Redburn Atlantic downgraded Costco Wholesale from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $860.00 to $890.00 in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Costco Wholesale from $855.00 to $950.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, September 9th. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $925.00 to $955.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, September 6th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $830.00 to $850.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Costco Wholesale currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $881.19.

Costco Wholesale Trading Down 1.8 %

Shares of Costco Wholesale stock opened at $885.62 on Friday. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $392.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 54.87, a P/E/G ratio of 5.47 and a beta of 0.80. Costco Wholesale has a 52-week low of $540.23 and a 52-week high of $923.83. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $870.67 and its 200 day simple moving average is $816.70.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, September 26th. The retailer reported $5.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.05 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $79.70 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $79.91 billion. Costco Wholesale had a net margin of 2.83% and a return on equity of 30.02%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $4.86 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Costco Wholesale will post 16.02 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Richard A. Galanti sold 500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $874.05, for a total value of $437,025.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 22,900 shares in the company, valued at $20,015,745. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other Costco Wholesale news, EVP Richard A. Galanti sold 500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $874.05, for a total transaction of $437,025.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 22,900 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,015,745. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Daniel M. Hines sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the insider now directly 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. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 4,974 shares of company stock valued at $4,252,856. 0.18% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Costco Wholesale

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of COST. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Costco Wholesale during the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. Redmont Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Costco Wholesale in the first quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Vima LLC acquired a new position in Costco Wholesale in the 4th quarter valued at $34,000. Financial Connections Group Inc. lifted its position in Costco Wholesale by 557.1% in the second quarter. Financial Connections Group Inc. now owns 46 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $39,000 after purchasing an additional 39 shares during the period. Finally, Bank & Trust Co purchased a new position in shares of Costco Wholesale during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $48,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.48% of the company’s stock.

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.