Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) Stock Price Down 0.7%

Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)’s stock price traded down 0.7% on Friday . The stock traded as low as $810.98 and last traded at $811.57. 616,221 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 69% from the average session volume of 1,979,581 shares. The stock had previously closed at $816.89.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on COST shares. Oppenheimer lifted their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $905.00 to $950.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 11th. Truist Financial raised their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $815.00 to $873.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 31st. BMO Capital Markets reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $875.00 price target (up previously from $800.00) on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research report on Friday, May 31st. DA Davidson restated a “neutral” rating and set a $680.00 target price on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, Bank of America lifted their price target on Costco Wholesale from $874.00 to $962.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 11th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-one have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Costco Wholesale presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $799.33.

Costco Wholesale Trading Up 0.2 %

The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $843.34 and its 200 day simple moving average is $769.99. The firm has a market cap of $362.93 billion, a PE ratio of 50.28, a PEG ratio of 5.53 and a beta of 0.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a current ratio of 0.94.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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. The firm had revenue of $58.52 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $58.16 billion. Costco Wholesale had a return on equity of 30.02% and a net margin of 2.83%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $3.43 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 15.97 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Costco Wholesale Dividend Announcement

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 dividend of $1.16 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, July 26th. This represents a $4.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.57%. Costco Wholesale’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 28.75%.

Insider Transactions at Costco Wholesale

In related news, insider Daniel M. Hines sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, July 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $844.20, for a total transaction of $1,266,300.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 12,492 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,545,746.40. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In related news, insider Daniel M. Hines sold 1,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, July 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $844.20, for a total value of $1,266,300.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 12,492 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,545,746.40. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Kenneth D. Denman sold 350 shares of the 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 transaction, the director now directly owns 5,920 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,041,057.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 3,350 shares of company stock valued at $2,837,131 in the last ninety days. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Costco Wholesale

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Costco Wholesale in the fourth quarter worth $3,628,694,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its position in Costco Wholesale by 61,693.5% in 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 purchasing an additional 3,100,099 shares in the last quarter. Global Assets Advisory LLC acquired a new position in shares of Costco Wholesale during the 1st quarter worth approximately $510,353,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 287.3% during the second quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 836,247 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $710,802,000 after purchasing an additional 620,341 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado increased its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 3,647.1% during the fourth quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado now owns 567,641 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $374,688,000 after purchasing an additional 552,492 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 68.48% of the company’s stock.

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.