Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) Downgraded by StockNews.com

StockNews.com cut shares of Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report sent to investors on Friday.

Several other research firms have also recently weighed in on COST. Loop Capital cut their price target on Costco Wholesale from $830.00 to $820.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Gordon Haskett cut Costco Wholesale from a buy rating to an accumulate rating and set a $775.00 price target for the company. in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Citigroup raised their price target on Costco Wholesale from $585.00 to $630.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a report on Friday, December 15th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on Costco Wholesale from $615.00 to $675.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Friday, December 15th. Finally, Northcoast Research cut Costco Wholesale from a buy rating to a neutral rating and set a $620.00 price target for the company. in a report on Wednesday, December 20th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $691.28.

Costco Wholesale Stock Down 1.8 %

Shares of COST opened at $718.28 on Friday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $730.82 and its 200 day moving average is $657.77. The company has a market capitalization of $318.56 billion, a PE ratio of 46.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.87 and a beta of 0.77. Costco Wholesale has a 12-month low of $476.75 and a 12-month high of $787.08. The company has a current ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28.

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

Costco Wholesale Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 10th. Investors of record on Friday, April 26th will be paid a dividend of $1.16 per share. This is a positive change from Costco Wholesale’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.02. This represents a $4.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.65%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 25th. Costco Wholesale’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 26.68%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Costco Wholesale

In other Costco Wholesale news, VP Yoram Rubanenko sold 2,500 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $680.33, for a total transaction of $1,700,825.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 5,910 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,020,750.30. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other Costco Wholesale news, VP Yoram Rubanenko sold 2,500 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $680.33, for a total transaction of $1,700,825.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 5,910 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,020,750.30. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 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 $4,785,786.85. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 13,442 shares of company stock valued at $9,303,768 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. grew its stake in Costco Wholesale by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 28,855 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $16,302,000 after buying an additional 273 shares during the last quarter. Keating Investment Counselors Inc. grew its stake in Costco Wholesale by 43.0% during the 3rd quarter. Keating Investment Counselors Inc. now owns 2,643 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,493,000 after buying an additional 795 shares during the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC grew its stake in Costco Wholesale by 28.9% during the 4th quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 272,288 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $179,822,000 after buying an additional 61,122 shares during the last quarter. Rice Partnership LLC grew its stake in Costco Wholesale by 21.0% during the 3rd quarter. Rice Partnership LLC now owns 11,741 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $6,633,000 after buying an additional 2,038 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Rappaport Reiches Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Costco Wholesale by 23.5% during the 4th quarter. Rappaport Reiches Capital Management LLC now owns 814 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $538,000 after buying an additional 155 shares during the last quarter. 68.48% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.