Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) Receives “Outperform” Rating from Telsey Advisory Group

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST)‘s stock had its “outperform” rating reaffirmed by equities researchers at Telsey Advisory Group in a research note issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $1,000.00 price target on the retailer’s stock. Telsey Advisory Group’s target price points to a potential upside of 4.00% from the stock’s current price.

Several other analysts have also commented on the company. Roth Mkm raised their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $676.00 to $755.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $925.00 to $935.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Redburn Atlantic cut shares of Costco Wholesale from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $860.00 to $890.00 in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $985.00 to $990.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein began coverage on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. They set an “outperform” rating and a $1,016.00 price target for the company. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Costco Wholesale has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $908.81.

Costco Wholesale Stock Performance

COST opened at $961.55 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $906.32 and a 200 day moving average price of $870.06. Costco Wholesale has a 1 year low of $582.83 and a 1 year high of $976.30. The stock has a market cap of $426.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 58.03, a P/E/G ratio of 5.93 and a beta of 0.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a current ratio of 0.97 and a quick ratio of 0.44.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, September 26th. The retailer reported $5.15 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 the consensus estimate of $79.91 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $4.86 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Costco Wholesale will post 17.75 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Costco Wholesale

In related news, EVP Claudine Adamo sold 3,200 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the executive vice president now owns 8,630 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,671,983.70. The trade was a 27.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Richard A. Galanti sold 1,416 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $894.68, for a total transaction of $1,266,866.88. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 27,400 shares in the company, valued at approximately $24,514,232. This trade represents a 4.91 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 11,016 shares of company stock worth $9,826,115 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Costco Wholesale

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Keynote Financial Services LLC acquired a new position in Costco Wholesale during the 1st quarter worth approximately $201,000. HM Payson & Co. increased its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 3.6% in the first quarter. HM Payson & Co. now owns 2,717 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,990,000 after buying an additional 95 shares during the last quarter. Confluence Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Costco Wholesale during the 2nd quarter worth about $210,000. Cullen Investment Group LTD. purchased a new position in shares of Costco Wholesale in the 2nd quarter valued at about $219,000. Finally, Transcend Capital Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 2.2% during the 2nd quarter. Transcend Capital Advisors LLC now owns 3,568 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $3,033,000 after acquiring an additional 78 shares in the last quarter. 68.48% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.