Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) Trading Up 0.1% – Here’s What Happened

Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)’s share price traded up 0.1% on Friday . The company traded as high as $955.51 and last traded at $955.34. 1,267,858 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 34% from the average session volume of 1,935,040 shares. The stock had previously closed at $954.80.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on COST. Telsey Advisory Group restated an “outperform” rating and set a $1,050.00 price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Roth Mkm lifted their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $755.00 to $907.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Sanford C. Bernstein began coverage on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $1,016.00 target price for the company. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $876.00 to $995.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on Costco Wholesale from $935.00 to $1,000.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nineteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $997.75.

Costco Wholesale Stock Performance

The firm has a market cap of $424.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 56.26, a P/E/G ratio of 6.02 and a beta of 0.82. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $933.40 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $889.21. The company has a quick ratio of 0.44, a current ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last released its earnings results on Thursday, September 26th. The retailer reported $5.15 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.05 by $0.10. Costco Wholesale had a net margin of 2.93% and a return on equity of 33.19%. The business had revenue of $79.70 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $79.91 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $4.86 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 17.83 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Costco Wholesale Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 1st were paid a $1.16 dividend. This represents a $4.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.48%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 1st. Costco Wholesale’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 27.25%.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Russell D. Miller sold 4,400 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $891.15, for a total value of $3,921,060.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 10,202 shares in the company, valued at $9,091,512.30. The trade was a 30.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Claudine Adamo sold 3,200 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $888.99, for a total value of $2,844,768.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 8,630 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,671,983.70. This trade represents a 27.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 11,016 shares of company stock valued at $9,826,115. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its stake in Costco Wholesale by 113,947.9% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 7,370,916 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $6,534,464,000 after purchasing an additional 7,364,453 shares during the period. Wulff Hansen & CO. lifted its position in Costco Wholesale by 99,208.6% during the 2nd quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 1,474,733 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,253,508,000 after acquiring an additional 1,473,248 shares during the period. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC grew its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 51,747.5% in the 2nd quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 619,578 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $5,266,000 after purchasing an additional 618,383 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 28.2% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,538,078 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,307,363,000 after purchasing an additional 338,780 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pathway Financial Advisers LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 75,894.4% during the third quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 338,935 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $300,473,000 after purchasing an additional 338,489 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.