Costco Wholesale's (COST) Outperform Rating Reiterated at Telsey Advisory Group

Key Points

• Telsey Advisory Group has reaffirmed an "outperform" rating for Costco Wholesale with a price target of $1,100.00, indicating a potential upside of 15.48% from the current stock price.
• Costco reported earnings of $4.28 per share for the last quarter, exceeding the consensus estimate by $0.04, alongside a revenue increase of 8.0% year-over-year.
• Institutional investors hold approximately 68.48% of Costco’s stock, with significant increases in holdings from firms like GAMMA Investing LLC and Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "outperform" rating reaffirmed by equities researchers at Telsey Advisory Group in a research note issued on Monday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $1,100.00 price objective on the retailer's stock. Telsey Advisory Group's price target would suggest a potential upside of 15.48% from the company's current price.

Several other research analysts have also weighed in on COST. Truist Financial lifted their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $995.00 to $1,042.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, May 30th. Evercore ISI cut their target price 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. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Costco Wholesale from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, June 6th. Loop Capital dropped their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $1,115.00 to $1,110.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 29th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Costco Wholesale from $1,150.00 to $1,225.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, May 30th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Costco Wholesale has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $1,037.48.

Costco Wholesale Stock Performance

COST stock opened at $952.52 on Monday. Costco Wholesale has a twelve month low of $793.00 and a twelve month high of $1,078.23. The company has a quick ratio of 0.52, a current ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. The company has a market cap of $422.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 54.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.92 and a beta of 0.96. The business's fifty day moving average is $983.34 and its 200-day moving average is $984.69.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Yoram Rubanenko sold 4,000 shares of the 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 5,774 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,629,419.04. This represents a 40.92% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Pierre Riel sold 2,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, June 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,014.15, for a total transaction of $2,028,300.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 8,210 shares of the company's stock, valued at $8,326,171.50. This represents a 19.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 9,547 shares of company stock worth $9,472,510 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of COST. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 106,402.1% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 8,160,190 shares of the retailer's stock worth $7,717,744,000 after acquiring an additional 8,152,528 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in Costco Wholesale in the 1st quarter valued at $3,461,159,000. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC lifted its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 418,980.3% during the 2nd quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC now owns 2,359,422 shares of the retailer's stock valued at $2,335,686,000 after purchasing an additional 2,358,859 shares during the last quarter. Leigh Baldwin & CO. LLC acquired a new stake in Costco Wholesale during the 4th quarter valued at $95,452,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in Costco Wholesale by 12.6% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 5,257,809 shares of the retailer's stock worth $4,817,573,000 after purchasing an additional 587,303 shares during the period. 68.48% of the stock is currently 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.

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