Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) Trading 0.4% Higher Following Analyst Upgrade

Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)’s share price traded up 0.4% during trading on Wednesday after Oppenheimer raised their price target on the stock from $805.00 to $850.00. Oppenheimer currently has an outperform rating on the stock. Costco Wholesale traded as high as $806.35 and last traded at $804.48. 314,585 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 84% from the average session volume of 1,969,330 shares. The stock had previously closed at $800.93.

Other equities analysts also recently issued reports about the company. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on Costco Wholesale from $665.00 to $749.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 8th. StockNews.com raised Costco Wholesale from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 17th. DA Davidson reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $680.00 price target on shares of Costco Wholesale in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Citigroup upped their price target on Costco Wholesale from $630.00 to $710.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Finally, Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $810.00 to $820.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 14th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nineteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $696.88.

Insider Activity at Costco Wholesale

In related news, EVP Claudine Adamo sold 1,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 11th. The stock was 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 directly owns 6,695 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,785,786.85. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other news, EVP Claudine Adamo sold 1,500 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $714.83, for a total value of $1,072,245.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 6,695 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,785,786.85. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Russell D. Miller sold 785 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $722.86, for a total value of $567,445.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 10,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,228,600. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Costco Wholesale

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in COST. Beck Bode LLC raised its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 10.7% during the first quarter. Beck Bode LLC now owns 15,697 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $11,500,000 after purchasing an additional 1,519 shares during the period. Orleans Capital Management Corp LA grew its stake in Costco Wholesale by 1.4% in the first quarter. Orleans Capital Management Corp LA now owns 6,276 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $4,598,000 after purchasing an additional 85 shares in the last quarter. Koesten Hirschmann & Crabtree INC. lifted its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 23.0% in the first quarter. Koesten Hirschmann & Crabtree INC. now owns 299 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $219,000 after buying an additional 56 shares during the last quarter. BigSur Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 112.4% in the first quarter. BigSur Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,780 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $2,769,000 after buying an additional 2,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Atria Investments Inc lifted its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 13.2% in the first quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 27,723 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $20,303,000 after buying an additional 3,230 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 68.48% of the company’s stock.

Costco Wholesale Stock Up 0.1 %

The company has a quick ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28. The company has a market cap of $355.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 52.44, a PEG ratio of 5.28 and a beta of 0.77. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $739.71 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $693.12.

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

Costco Wholesale Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 26th were paid a $1.16 dividend. This is a positive change from Costco Wholesale’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.02. This represents a $4.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.58%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 25th. Costco Wholesale’s dividend payout ratio is currently 30.35%.

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.