Citigroup Raises Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) Price Target to $710.00

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) had its target price hoisted by Citigroup from $630.00 to $710.00 in a research report report published on Tuesday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have a neutral rating on the retailer’s stock.

A number of other research firms have also recently commented on COST. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $795.00 to $805.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. StockNews.com cut Costco Wholesale from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report on Friday, April 12th. Oppenheimer boosted their price target on Costco Wholesale from $760.00 to $805.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 5th. Telsey Advisory Group reiterated an outperform rating and set a $800.00 price target on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, Tigress Financial boosted their price target on Costco Wholesale from $745.00 to $870.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Friday, March 15th. Seven investment 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 a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $694.48.

Costco Wholesale Trading Up 1.0 %

Shares of NASDAQ:COST opened at $722.68 on Tuesday. Costco Wholesale has a 12-month low of $476.75 and a 12-month high of $787.08. The company has a market capitalization of $320.51 billion, a PE ratio of 47.26, a PEG ratio of 4.73 and a beta of 0.77. The business has a 50 day moving average of $730.32 and a two-hundred day moving average of $664.04. The company has a current ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 7th. The retailer reported $3.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.62 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $58.44 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $59.11 billion. Costco Wholesale had a return on equity of 28.80% and a net margin of 2.73%. Costco Wholesale’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $3.30 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Costco Wholesale will post 15.84 EPS for the current year.

Costco Wholesale Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 26th will be paid a $1.16 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 25th. This is an increase from Costco Wholesale’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.02. This represents a $4.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.64%. Costco Wholesale’s dividend payout ratio is 30.35%.

Insider Transactions at Costco Wholesale

In other Costco Wholesale news, EVP Russell D. Miller sold 785 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $722.86, for a total transaction of $567,445.10. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 10,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,228,600. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other Costco Wholesale news, EVP Russell D. Miller sold 785 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $722.86, for a total transaction of $567,445.10. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 10,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,228,600. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Claudine Adamo sold 1,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $714.83, for a total transaction of $1,072,245.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 6,695 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,785,786.85. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 3,727 shares of company stock valued at $2,682,948. 0.18% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Costco Wholesale

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Costco Wholesale by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 40,360,168 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $26,640,940,000 after buying an additional 485,051 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Costco Wholesale during the fourth quarter worth about $3,628,694,000. Northern Trust Corp grew its position in Costco Wholesale by 4.3% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 5,134,947 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $2,901,040,000 after buying an additional 210,586 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors grew its position in Costco Wholesale by 3.9% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 3,539,245 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $2,336,198,000 after buying an additional 132,292 shares in the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its position in Costco Wholesale by 61,693.5% during the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 3,105,124 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $2,049,630,000 after buying an additional 3,100,099 shares in the last quarter. 68.48% of the stock is 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.