BMO Capital Markets Boosts Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) Price Target to $1,075.00

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) had its target price boosted by BMO Capital Markets from $980.00 to $1,075.00 in a research report issued on Monday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an “outperform” rating on the retailer’s stock. BMO Capital Markets’ price objective indicates a potential upside of 16.48% from the stock’s current price.

COST has been the subject of a number of other reports. Roth Mkm raised their price target on Costco Wholesale from $676.00 to $755.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Costco Wholesale from $800.00 to $850.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $955.00 to $980.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. TD Cowen lifted their target price on Costco Wholesale from $925.00 to $975.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Finally, Loop Capital lifted their target price on Costco Wholesale from $975.00 to $1,005.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $908.81.

Costco Wholesale Stock Performance

NASDAQ COST traded up $15.82 on Monday, reaching $922.89. 401,790 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,923,185. Costco Wholesale has a one year low of $577.34 and a one year high of $962.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $408.90 billion, a PE ratio of 55.70, a PEG ratio of 5.60 and a beta of 0.80. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $897.62 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $859.62. The company has a current ratio of 0.97, a quick ratio of 0.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, September 26th. The retailer reported $5.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.05 by $0.10. Costco Wholesale had a net margin of 2.90% and a return on equity of 31.05%. The business had revenue of $79.70 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $79.91 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $4.86 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Costco Wholesale will post 17.75 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Costco Wholesale news, EVP Russell D. Miller sold 4,400 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, October 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $891.15, for a total value of $3,921,060.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 10,202 shares in the company, valued at $9,091,512.30. This represents a 30.13 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Claudine Adamo sold 3,200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $888.99, for a total value of $2,844,768.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 8,630 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,671,983.70. The trade was a 27.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 11,016 shares of company stock worth $9,826,115. 0.18% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Costco Wholesale

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 22.3% during the 1st quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 7,719 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $5,655,000 after purchasing an additional 1,408 shares during the period. Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in Costco Wholesale by 20.3% during the 1st quarter. Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. now owns 498 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $365,000 after acquiring an additional 84 shares in the last quarter. Vaughan David Investments LLC IL lifted its stake in Costco Wholesale by 12.1% during the 1st quarter. Vaughan David Investments LLC IL now owns 2,254 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,651,000 after acquiring an additional 244 shares in the last quarter. InterOcean Capital Group LLC lifted its stake in Costco Wholesale by 12.9% during the 1st quarter. InterOcean Capital Group LLC now owns 5,740 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $4,206,000 after acquiring an additional 655 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ossiam lifted its stake in Costco Wholesale by 1,043.1% during the 1st quarter. Ossiam now owns 178,326 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $130,647,000 after acquiring an additional 162,726 shares in the last quarter. 68.48% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.