Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) Short Interest Down 6.2% in October

Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) saw a large drop in short interest during the month of October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 4,410,000 shares, a drop of 6.2% from the October 15th total of 4,700,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 1,670,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.6 days. Approximately 1.0% of the company’s shares are short sold.

Costco Wholesale Stock Down 0.2 %

Costco Wholesale stock opened at $577.15 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $564.00 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $542.66. The company has a quick ratio of 0.57, a current ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. The stock has a market cap of $255.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.76, a P/E/G ratio of 4.31 and a beta of 0.78. Costco Wholesale has a twelve month low of $447.90 and a twelve month high of $599.89.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, September 26th. The retailer reported $4.86 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.79 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $78.94 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $77.72 billion. Costco Wholesale had a return on equity of 28.10% and a net margin of 2.60%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $4.20 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Costco Wholesale will post 15.71 EPS for the current year.

Costco Wholesale Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 17th. Investors of record on Friday, November 3rd were paid a dividend of $1.02 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, November 2nd. This represents a $4.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.71%. Costco Wholesale’s payout ratio is 28.81%.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Claudine Adamo sold 2,565 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $548.92, for a total value of $1,407,979.80. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 8,128 shares in the company, valued at $4,461,621.76. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In related news, EVP Claudine Adamo sold 2,565 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $548.92, for a total value of $1,407,979.80. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 8,128 shares in the company, valued at $4,461,621.76. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Caton Frates sold 1,200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $562.64, for a total value of $675,168.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 8,363 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,705,358.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 19,265 shares of company stock valued at $10,797,118. 0.22% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Costco Wholesale

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. United Bank increased its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 9.2% in the first quarter. United Bank now owns 5,254 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $3,026,000 after purchasing an additional 444 shares during the period. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. increased its stake in Costco Wholesale by 33.6% in the 1st quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 383,691 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $220,948,000 after acquiring an additional 96,566 shares during the last quarter. Covestor Ltd raised its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 87.1% in the 1st quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 232 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $134,000 after acquiring an additional 108 shares in the last quarter. Bridgefront Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Costco Wholesale during the 1st quarter valued at about $333,000. Finally, Next Century Growth Investors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 0.9% during the first quarter. Next Century Growth Investors LLC now owns 3,414 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,965,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 66.31% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

COST has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Raymond James lifted their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $570.00 to $580.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 27th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on Costco Wholesale from $610.00 to $640.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 2nd. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Costco Wholesale from $535.00 to $585.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 27th. Truist Financial reissued a “buy” rating and set a $619.00 target price on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research note on Thursday, October 5th. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $595.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, September 8th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-one have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Costco Wholesale currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $586.43.

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.