Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST) Given Average Recommendation of "Moderate Buy" by Brokerages

Key Points

• Costco Wholesale has received a consensus recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from 29 brokerages, with a target price averaging around $1,037.48.
• The company reported a quarterly EPS of $4.28, exceeding estimates, with revenue increasing by 8.0% year-over-year to $63.21 billion.
• Costco declared a quarterly dividend of $1.30 per share, indicating an annualized dividend yield of 0.5%, with the ex-dividend date set for August 1st.

Shares of Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST - Get Free Report) have been given an average rating of "Moderate Buy" by the twenty-seven research firms that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and seventeen have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year target price among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $1,050.00.

COST has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Mizuho initiated coverage on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research report on Friday, April 11th. They set a "neutral" rating and a $975.00 target price on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,115.00 to $1,160.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday. Truist Financial upped their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $995.00 to $1,042.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, May 30th. Evercore ISI cut their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,075.00 to $1,060.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, June 17th. Finally, Erste Group Bank cut shares of Costco Wholesale from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Pierre Riel sold 2,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,014.15, for a total transaction of $2,028,300.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 8,210 shares in the company, valued at $8,326,171.50. This represents a 19.59% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Yoram Rubanenko sold 4,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $974.96, for a total value of $3,899,840.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 5,774 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,629,419.04. This represents a 40.92% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 9,547 shares of company stock worth $9,472,510. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 1.0% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 42,644,711 shares of the retailer's stock valued at $40,332,515,000 after buying an additional 443,101 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 1.5% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 10,275,056 shares of the retailer's stock valued at $10,124,263,000 after buying an additional 150,844 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 106,402.1% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 8,160,190 shares of the retailer's stock valued at $7,717,744,000 after buying an additional 8,152,528 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 12.6% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 5,257,809 shares of the retailer's stock valued at $4,817,573,000 after buying an additional 587,303 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. grew its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 4,332,009 shares of the retailer's stock valued at $4,097,127,000 after buying an additional 18,045 shares in the last quarter. 68.48% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Costco Wholesale Trading Up 0.4%

COST traded up $3.53 during trading on Thursday, hitting $980.98. 2,188,224 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,172,175. The company has a current ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 0.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. Costco Wholesale has a 1 year low of $837.63 and a 1 year high of $1,078.23. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $977.93 and a 200 day moving average price of $984.85. The firm has a market cap of $435.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 55.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.08 and a beta of 0.96.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 29th. The retailer reported $4.28 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $4.24 by $0.04. Costco Wholesale had a net margin of 2.92% and a return on equity of 30.48%. The business had revenue of $63.21 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $62.93 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $3.78 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 8.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that Costco Wholesale will post 18.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Costco Wholesale Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 1st will be paid a dividend of $1.30 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 1st. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.5%. Costco Wholesale's dividend payout ratio is currently 29.50%.

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.