Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) Shares Down 0.4%

Shares of Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) fell 0.4% on Wednesday . The stock traded as low as $727.75 and last traded at $728.39. 312,104 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 85% from the average session volume of 2,150,617 shares. The stock had previously closed at $730.98.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on COST. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on Costco Wholesale from $612.00 to $700.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 15th. Tigress Financial upped their target price on Costco Wholesale from $745.00 to $870.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 15th. Truist Financial upped their target price on Costco Wholesale from $693.00 to $741.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 21st. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Costco Wholesale from $610.00 to $675.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 8th. Finally, Northcoast Research lowered Costco Wholesale from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $620.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Wednesday, December 20th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Costco Wholesale has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $668.50.

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 stock has a 50-day moving average of $724.29 and a 200 day moving average of $642.61. The company has a market capitalization of $324.92 billion, a PE ratio of 47.92, a P/E/G ratio of 5.06 and a beta of 0.77.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last released its earnings results on Thursday, March 7th. The retailer reported $3.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.62 by $0.09. Costco Wholesale had a return on equity of 28.80% and a net margin of 2.73%. The business had revenue of $58.44 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $59.11 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $3.30 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 15.82 EPS for the current year.

Costco Wholesale Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 16th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 2nd were given a $1.02 dividend. This represents a $4.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.56%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 1st. Costco Wholesale’s dividend payout ratio is currently 26.68%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Costco Wholesale news, EVP Claudine Adamo sold 1,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 6,695 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,785,786.85. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In related news, Director Susan L. Decker sold 1,442 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction on Friday, February 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $723.48, for a total transaction of $1,043,258.16. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 12,395 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,967,534.60. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Claudine Adamo sold 1,500 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction on Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $714.83, for a total value of $1,072,245.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 6,695 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,785,786.85. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 15,582 shares of company stock valued at $10,736,778 over the last ninety days. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Costco Wholesale

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in COST. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Costco Wholesale by 118,320.2% during the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 7,396,524 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $3,376,513,000 after purchasing an additional 7,390,278 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Costco Wholesale in the fourth quarter worth about $3,628,694,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 61,693.5% in 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 during the period. Morgan Stanley increased its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 18.0% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 8,634,627 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $3,941,708,000 after buying an additional 1,315,174 shares during the period. Finally, Barclays PLC increased its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 172.6% in the second quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,357,548 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $730,877,000 after buying an additional 859,599 shares during the period. 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.