Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) PT Raised to $950.00 at Oppenheimer

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) had its price objective boosted by Oppenheimer from $905.00 to $950.00 in a report released on Thursday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. The brokerage currently has an outperform rating on the retailer’s stock.

Several other research analysts also recently commented on COST. Argus boosted their target price on Costco Wholesale from $805.00 to $900.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 28th. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on Costco Wholesale from $860.00 to $890.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research note on Thursday, June 20th. Tigress Financial upped their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $870.00 to $975.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 25th. Gordon Haskett downgraded Costco Wholesale from a buy rating to an accumulate rating and set a $775.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Finally, DA Davidson reaffirmed a neutral rating and issued a $680.00 price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-one have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Costco Wholesale has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $799.33.

Costco Wholesale Trading Down 0.4 %

COST opened at $842.90 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. The stock has a market capitalization of $373.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 52.22, a P/E/G ratio of 5.57 and a beta of 0.78. Costco Wholesale has a twelve month low of $530.56 and a twelve month high of $896.67. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $829.88 and a 200 day simple moving average of $754.71.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 30th. The retailer reported $3.78 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.70 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $58.52 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $58.16 billion. Costco Wholesale had a return on equity of 30.02% and a net margin of 2.83%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $3.43 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Costco Wholesale will post 15.97 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Costco Wholesale Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 9th. Investors of record on Friday, July 26th will be given a $1.16 dividend. This represents a $4.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.55%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, July 26th. Costco Wholesale’s payout ratio is currently 28.75%.

Insider Activity at Costco Wholesale

In related news, EVP Russell D. Miller sold 785 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $722.86, for a total value of $567,445.10. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 10,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,228,600. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Costco Wholesale

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 1.2% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 40,833,870 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $29,916,118,000 after acquiring an additional 473,702 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Costco Wholesale during the 4th quarter worth $3,628,694,000. Capital World Investors boosted its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 8.1% during the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 3,824,778 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $2,802,147,000 after acquiring an additional 285,533 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 61,693.5% during the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 3,105,124 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $2,049,630,000 after acquiring an additional 3,100,099 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 3.2% during the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 2,794,480 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,844,581,000 after acquiring an additional 85,398 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.48% of the company’s stock.

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.