Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) Trading Down 0.1%

Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) was down 0.1% during trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as low as $715.24 and last traded at $715.37. Approximately 266,166 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 87% from the average daily volume of 2,085,492 shares. The stock had previously closed at $715.97.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have commented on COST shares. Tigress Financial boosted their target price on Costco Wholesale from $745.00 to $870.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 15th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $665.00 to $749.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 8th. Northcoast Research cut Costco Wholesale from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $620.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Wednesday, December 20th. Loop Capital dropped their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $830.00 to $820.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $610.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 8th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $691.28.

Costco Wholesale Trading Down 0.5 %

The company has a market capitalization of $316.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.78 and a beta of 0.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a current ratio of 0.93. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $730.92 and a 200-day moving average price of $658.84.

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 the consensus estimate of $3.62 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $58.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $59.11 billion. Costco Wholesale had a return on equity of 28.80% and a net margin of 2.73%. Costco Wholesale’s quarterly revenue was up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $3.30 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 15.84 EPS for the current year.

Costco Wholesale Increases Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Costco Wholesale news, Director Susan L. Decker sold 1,442 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $723.48, for a total value of $1,043,258.16. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 12,395 shares in the company, valued at $8,967,534.60. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other Costco Wholesale news, Director Susan L. Decker sold 1,442 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $723.48, for a total value of $1,043,258.16. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 12,395 shares in the company, valued at $8,967,534.60. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Claudine Adamo sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now 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 worth $9,303,768 in the last ninety days. 0.18% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Costco Wholesale

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Enterprise Financial Services Corp raised its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. Enterprise Financial Services Corp now owns 892 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $589,000 after acquiring an additional 14 shares during the last quarter. Hoxton Planning & Management LLC grew its stake in Costco Wholesale by 0.9% during the first quarter. Hoxton Planning & Management LLC now owns 1,535 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,125,000 after purchasing an additional 14 shares during the period. Howard Financial Services LTD. grew its stake in Costco Wholesale by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. Howard Financial Services LTD. now owns 870 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $574,000 after purchasing an additional 15 shares during the period. First National Corp MA ADV grew its stake in Costco Wholesale by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. First National Corp MA ADV now owns 3,098 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $2,045,000 after purchasing an additional 15 shares during the period. Finally, Morton Capital Management LLC CA grew its stake in Costco Wholesale by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Morton Capital Management LLC CA now owns 1,564 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,032,000 after purchasing an additional 15 shares during the period. 68.48% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.