Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST - Get Free Report) rose 1% on Tuesday after Citigroup raised their price target on the stock from $630.00 to $710.00. Citigroup currently has a neutral rating on the stock. Costco Wholesale traded as high as $722.99 and last traded at $722.50. Approximately 277,432 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 87% from the average daily volume of 2,066,722 shares. The stock had previously closed at $715.46.
A number of other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on COST. Gordon Haskett downgraded shares of Costco Wholesale from a "buy" rating to an "accumulate" rating and set a $775.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Tigress Financial upped their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $745.00 to $870.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, March 15th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $665.00 to $749.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 8th. Evercore ISI upped their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $795.00 to $805.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, DA Davidson reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and issued a $680.00 target price on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $694.48.
Get Our Latest Analysis on Costco Wholesale
Insider Buying and Selling
In related news, EVP Claudine Adamo sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $714.83, for a total transaction of $1,072,245.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 6,695 shares in the company, valued at $4,785,786.85. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Costco Wholesale news, EVP Russell D. Miller sold 785 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $722.86, for a total value of $567,445.10. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 10,000 shares in the company, valued at $7,228,600. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Claudine Adamo sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $714.83, for a total transaction of $1,072,245.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 6,695 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,785,786.85. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 3,727 shares of company stock worth $2,682,948. 0.18% of the stock is owned by insiders.
Institutional Trading of Costco Wholesale
A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Milestone Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in Costco Wholesale in the first quarter valued at $455,000. Covenant Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 0.9% in the first quarter. Covenant Asset Management LLC now owns 4,669 shares of the retailer's stock valued at $3,421,000 after purchasing an additional 40 shares during the period. Sweet Financial Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 445.0% in the first quarter. Sweet Financial Partners LLC now owns 2,932 shares of the retailer's stock valued at $2,148,000 after purchasing an additional 2,394 shares during the period. LaFleur & Godfrey LLC raised its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 22.3% in the first quarter. LaFleur & Godfrey LLC now owns 1,287 shares of the retailer's stock valued at $943,000 after purchasing an additional 235 shares during the period. Finally, Sage Mountain Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 15.4% in the first quarter. Sage Mountain Advisors LLC now owns 2,031 shares of the retailer's stock valued at $1,488,000 after purchasing an additional 271 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.48% of the company's stock.
Costco Wholesale Price Performance
The company has a market capitalization of $320.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 47.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.73 and a beta of 0.77. The company's 50-day moving average price is $730.32 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $664.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a current ratio of 0.93 and a quick ratio of 0.43.
Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 7th. The retailer reported $3.71 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.62 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $58.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $59.11 billion. Costco Wholesale had a net margin of 2.73% and a return on equity of 28.80%. The company's revenue was up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $3.30 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 15.84 EPS for the current year.
Costco Wholesale Increases Dividend
The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 10th. Investors of record on Friday, April 26th will be given a dividend of $1.16 per share. This represents a $4.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.64%. This is a positive change from Costco Wholesale's previous quarterly dividend of $1.02. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 25th. Costco Wholesale's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 30.35%.
About Costco Wholesale
(
Get Free Report)
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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