Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST) Receives Consensus Recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from Analysts

Key Points

• Costco Wholesale Corporation has received a consensus recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from 27 analysts, with 17 recommending a buy and 10 advising to hold.
• The average twelve-month price target for Costco shares is set at $1,050.00, following updates from various research reports.
• Costco recently announced a quarterly dividend of $1.30 per share, resulting in a 0.6% dividend yield based on an annualized payout of $5.20.

Shares of Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST - Get Free Report) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the twenty-seven brokerages that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and seventeen have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $1,050.00.

A number of research analysts have issued reports on COST shares. Erste Group Bank cut shares of Costco Wholesale from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, August 5th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Costco Wholesale from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, June 6th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $1,035.00 price target on shares of Costco Wholesale in a report on Thursday, May 29th. Truist Financial raised their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $995.00 to $1,042.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, May 30th. Finally, Evercore ISI decreased their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,075.00 to $1,060.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, June 17th.

Insider Activity at Costco Wholesale

In related news, EVP Teresa A. Jones sold 600 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $992.05, for a total transaction of $595,230.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 2,362 shares in the company, valued at $2,343,222.10. The trade was a 20.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Susan L. Decker sold 547 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $980.00, for a total transaction of $536,060.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 11,531 shares of the company's stock, valued at $11,300,380. This represents a 4.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 10,147 shares of company stock valued at $10,067,740 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Personal CFO Solutions LLC increased its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 12.4% in the first quarter. Personal CFO Solutions LLC now owns 1,519 shares of the retailer's stock valued at $1,436,000 after buying an additional 167 shares in the last quarter. F&V Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Costco Wholesale in the first quarter valued at $236,000. Graybill Wealth Management LTD. purchased a new position in Costco Wholesale in the first quarter valued at $3,095,000. Rossmore Private Capital increased its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 0.9% in the first quarter. Rossmore Private Capital now owns 6,687 shares of the retailer's stock valued at $6,325,000 after buying an additional 62 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Curat Global LLC purchased a new position in Costco Wholesale in the first quarter valued at $241,000. 68.48% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Costco Wholesale Price Performance

NASDAQ COST opened at $943.32 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a quick ratio of 0.52 and a current ratio of 1.02. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $966.42 and its 200-day moving average price is $980.51. Costco Wholesale has a 52-week low of $867.16 and a 52-week high of $1,078.23. The company has a market cap of $418.34 billion, a PE ratio of 53.51, a P/E/G ratio of 5.86 and a beta of 0.97.

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

Costco Wholesale Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 15th. Investors of record on Friday, August 1st were issued a dividend of $1.30 per share. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 1st. Costco Wholesale's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 29.50%.

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.

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