Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) Shares Up 0.6%

Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) shot up 0.6% on Monday . The stock traded as high as $741.00 and last traded at $735.69. 413,922 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 80% from the average session volume of 2,101,896 shares. The stock had previously closed at $731.31.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently weighed in on COST. Tigress Financial increased their price target on Costco Wholesale from $745.00 to $870.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 15th. Northcoast Research downgraded Costco Wholesale from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $620.00 target price for the company. in a report on Wednesday, December 20th. Gordon Haskett downgraded Costco Wholesale from a “buy” rating to an “accumulate” rating and set a $775.00 target price for the company. in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Costco Wholesale from $610.00 to $675.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 8th. Finally, Loop Capital reduced their target price on Costco Wholesale from $830.00 to $820.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $691.28.

Costco Wholesale Trading Down 0.3 %

The stock has a market cap of $317.53 billion, a PE ratio of 46.83, a PEG ratio of 4.78 and a beta of 0.77. The business has a 50-day moving average of $730.92 and a 200 day moving average of $658.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a current ratio of 0.93.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 7th. The retailer reported $3.71 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.62 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $58.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $3.30 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 15.84 EPS 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. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 26th will be issued a $1.16 dividend. This is a boost from Costco Wholesale’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.02. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 25th. This represents a $4.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.65%. Costco Wholesale’s payout ratio is 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 dated Thursday, January 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $680.33, for a total value of $1,700,825.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 5,910 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,020,750.30. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, Director W Craig Jelinek sold 8,000 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $685.93, for a total value of $5,487,440.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 216,212 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $148,306,297.16. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, VP Yoram Rubanenko sold 2,500 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $680.33, for a total value of $1,700,825.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 5,910 shares in the company, valued at $4,020,750.30. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 13,442 shares of company stock worth $9,303,768 in the last 90 days. 0.18% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Costco Wholesale

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Richelieu Gestion SA acquired a new position in shares of Costco Wholesale in the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Costco Wholesale in the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. Morton Brown Family Wealth LLC lifted its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 200.0% in the 4th quarter. Morton Brown Family Wealth LLC now owns 45 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in Costco Wholesale during the 4th quarter worth approximately $30,000. Finally, Aspect Partners LLC acquired a new position in Costco Wholesale during the 4th quarter worth approximately $31,000. 68.48% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.