Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) Price Target Raised to $925.00 at TD Cowen

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) had its price objective increased by TD Cowen from $850.00 to $925.00 in a research note published on Friday morning, Benzinga reports. TD Cowen currently has a buy rating on the retailer’s stock.

A number of other research firms have also recently issued reports on COST. Argus lifted their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $805.00 to $900.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 28th. DA Davidson reissued a neutral rating and issued a $680.00 price target on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $874.00 to $962.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Thursday, July 11th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $850.00 to $975.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research note on Thursday, July 11th. Finally, Gordon Haskett lowered Costco Wholesale from a buy rating to an accumulate rating and set a $775.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-one have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $799.33.

Costco Wholesale Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ COST opened at $848.73 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $376.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 52.59, a PEG ratio of 5.67 and a beta of 0.78. Costco Wholesale has a 12 month low of $530.56 and a 12 month high of $896.67. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $831.73 and its 200-day simple moving average is $756.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 0.94 and a quick ratio of 0.45.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 30th. The retailer reported $3.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.70 by $0.08. Costco Wholesale had a net margin of 2.83% and a return on equity of 30.02%. The firm had revenue of $58.52 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $58.16 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $3.43 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Costco Wholesale will post 15.97 EPS for the current year.

Costco Wholesale Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Russell D. Miller sold 785 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction that occurred 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 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 filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other Costco Wholesale news, EVP Russell D. Miller sold 785 shares of the business’s 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 sale, the executive vice president now owns 10,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,228,600. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Kenneth D. Denman sold 350 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $851.53, for a total value of $298,035.50. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 5,920 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,041,057.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 4,135 shares of company stock valued at $3,404,576. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Costco Wholesale

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Bangor Savings Bank grew its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 2.3% in the second quarter. Bangor Savings Bank now owns 1,090 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $926,000 after acquiring an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. First Community Trust NA grew its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 2.8% in the second quarter. First Community Trust NA now owns 709 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $603,000 after acquiring an additional 19 shares in the last quarter. Cooper Financial Group grew its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 6.7% in the second quarter. Cooper Financial Group now owns 4,425 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $3,761,000 after acquiring an additional 278 shares in the last quarter. Emerald Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 4.8% in the second quarter. Emerald Advisors LLC now owns 632,463 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $537,587,000 after acquiring an additional 29,113 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Alpha Cubed Investments LLC grew its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 1.1% in the second quarter. Alpha Cubed Investments LLC now owns 33,876 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $28,794,000 after acquiring an additional 360 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.