Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) Posts Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.04 EPS

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST - Get Free Report) announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday. The retailer reported $4.28 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $4.24 by $0.04, RTT News reports. The company had revenue of $63.21 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $62.93 billion. Costco Wholesale had a net margin of 2.93% and a return on equity of 32.31%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 8.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $3.78 EPS.

Costco Wholesale Stock Up 3.3%

COST stock traded up $33.56 during trading on Friday, reaching $1,042.30. 2,331,676 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,050,116. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $981.48 and a 200 day simple moving average of $974.53. Costco Wholesale has a 12 month low of $788.20 and a 12 month high of $1,078.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a current ratio of 0.98. The company has a market capitalization of $462.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 61.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.15 and a beta of 1.00.

Costco Wholesale Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 16th. Investors of record on Friday, May 2nd were paid a dividend of $1.30 per share. This is a boost from Costco Wholesale's previous quarterly dividend of $1.16. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.50%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 2nd. Costco Wholesale's dividend payout ratio is 30.36%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP James C. Klauer sold 4,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $981.07, for a total transaction of $3,924,280.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 43,994 shares of the company's stock, valued at $43,161,193.58. This represents a 8.33% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Claudine Adamo sold 900 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $922.56, for a total value of $830,304.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 6,987 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $6,445,926.72. This represents a 11.41% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 9,600 shares of company stock worth $9,140,195. 0.18% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Costco Wholesale

A hedge fund recently raised its stake in Costco Wholesale stock. Brighton Jones LLC raised its position in shares of Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST - Free Report) by 12.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 19,825 shares of the retailer's stock after purchasing an additional 2,172 shares during the quarter. Brighton Jones LLC's holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $18,165,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.48% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

COST has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Mizuho started coverage on Costco Wholesale in a report on Friday, April 11th. They set a "neutral" rating and a $975.00 price target on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus set a $1,035.00 target price on Costco Wholesale in a research report on Thursday. Truist Financial upped their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $995.00 to $1,042.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,065.00 to $1,070.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Finally, Cfra Research raised shares of Costco Wholesale from a "hold" rating to a "moderate buy" rating in a report on Friday, April 4th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $1,030.32.

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.