BMO Capital Markets Reaffirms “Outperform” Rating for Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST)

BMO Capital Markets reissued their outperform rating on shares of Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) in a report released on Friday morning, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a $980.00 price objective on the retailer’s stock, up from their previous price objective of $950.00.

A number of other research analysts also recently commented on COST. Oppenheimer increased their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $925.00 to $955.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a report on Friday, September 6th. Melius Research began coverage on shares of Costco Wholesale in a report on Monday, September 23rd. They issued a hold rating and a $950.00 price target for the company. Evercore ISI increased their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $915.00 to $925.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a report on Friday, September 6th. Roth Mkm reaffirmed a neutral rating and issued a $676.00 price target (up previously from $650.00) on shares of Costco Wholesale in a report on Friday, May 31st. Finally, DA Davidson reaffirmed a neutral rating and issued a $780.00 price target on shares of Costco Wholesale in a report on Friday, September 6th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Costco Wholesale currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $881.19.

Costco Wholesale Stock Down 1.8 %

COST opened at $885.62 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $870.67 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $817.28. Costco Wholesale has a 52 week low of $540.23 and a 52 week high of $923.83. The company has a market capitalization of $392.62 billion, a PE ratio of 54.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.47 and a beta of 0.80. The company has a quick ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, September 26th. The retailer reported $5.15 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.05 by $0.10. Costco Wholesale had a net margin of 2.83% and a return on equity of 30.02%. The business had revenue of $79.70 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $79.91 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $4.86 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Costco Wholesale will post 16.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Costco Wholesale Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 9th. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 26th were issued a $1.16 dividend. This represents a $4.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.52%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, July 26th. Costco Wholesale’s dividend payout ratio is currently 28.75%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Costco Wholesale news, EVP Richard A. Galanti sold 500 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $874.05, for a total value of $437,025.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 22,900 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,015,745. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other Costco Wholesale news, EVP Richard A. Galanti sold 500 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $874.05, for a total value of $437,025.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 22,900 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,015,745. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Daniel M. Hines sold 1,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, July 12th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at $10,545,746.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 4,974 shares of company stock valued at $4,252,856. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Costco Wholesale

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 1.2% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 40,833,870 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $29,916,118,000 after buying an additional 473,702 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors lifted its position in Costco Wholesale by 8.1% during the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 3,824,778 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $2,802,147,000 after purchasing an additional 285,533 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its position in Costco Wholesale by 2.5% during the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 3,650,562 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $3,102,941,000 after purchasing an additional 88,550 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its position in Costco Wholesale by 3.0% during the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 2,790,935 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,842,241,000 after purchasing an additional 81,853 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in Costco Wholesale by 28.2% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,538,078 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,307,363,000 after purchasing an additional 338,780 shares during the period. 68.48% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.