Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST) Receives Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST) has received a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-nine ratings firms that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and nineteen have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $1,037.4815.

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on COST. Evercore ISI lowered their price target on Costco Wholesale from $1,075.00 to $1,060.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, June 17th. Truist Financial increased their target price on Costco Wholesale from $995.00 to $1,042.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, May 30th. Erste Group Bank downgraded Costco Wholesale from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Telsey Advisory Group reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $1,100.00 target price on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research note on Monday. Finally, Mizuho began coverage on Costco Wholesale in a report on Friday, April 11th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $975.00 price target on the stock.

Insider Activity at Costco Wholesale

In related news, EVP Patrick J. Callans sold 3,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,002.77, for a total value of $3,008,310.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 58,543 shares in the company, valued at approximately $58,705,164.11. The trade was a 4.87% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Susan L. Decker sold 547 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $980.00, for a total value of $536,060.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 11,531 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,300,380. This trade represents a 4.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 9,547 shares of company stock valued at $9,472,510 over the last ninety days. 0.18% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Costco Wholesale

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 12.3% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 19,825 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $18,165,000 after purchasing an additional 2,172 shares in the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 13.1% in the fourth quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,123 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,029,000 after purchasing an additional 130 shares during the last quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG raised its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 45.0% in the fourth quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 117,254 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $107,436,000 after purchasing an additional 36,384 shares during the last quarter. Highview Capital Management LLC DE increased its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Highview Capital Management LLC DE now owns 4,813 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $4,410,000 after acquiring an additional 40 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hudson Value Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 5.7% in the fourth quarter. Hudson Value Partners LLC now owns 8,501 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $7,789,000 after acquiring an additional 455 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.48% of the company’s stock.

Costco Wholesale Trading Up 2.6%

Shares of COST stock opened at $968.56 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.52, a current ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. The stock has a market cap of $429.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 54.94, a P/E/G ratio of 5.87 and a beta of 0.96. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $979.91 and a 200-day simple moving average of $984.38. Costco Wholesale has a fifty-two week low of $809.26 and a fifty-two week high of $1,078.23.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 29th. The retailer reported $4.28 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.24 by $0.04. Costco Wholesale had a return on equity of 30.48% and a net margin of 2.92%. The firm had revenue of $63.21 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $62.93 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $3.78 EPS. Costco Wholesale’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that Costco Wholesale will post 18.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Costco Wholesale Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 1st will be given a $1.30 dividend. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 1st. Costco Wholesale’s dividend payout ratio is 29.50%.

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.