Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) Shares Up 0.2% After Analyst Upgrade

Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST - Get Free Report)'s stock price shot up 0.2% during trading on Tuesday after Evercore ISI raised their price target on the stock from $810.00 to $820.00. Evercore ISI currently has an outperform rating on the stock. Costco Wholesale traded as high as $780.81 and last traded at $776.46. 345,423 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 83% from the average session volume of 1,999,588 shares. The stock had previously closed at $775.15.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently issued reports on the stock. Loop Capital reduced their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $830.00 to $820.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $665.00 to $749.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 8th. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $760.00 to $805.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 5th. Telsey Advisory Group reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $800.00 target price on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research note on Monday, May 6th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $630.00 to $710.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 23rd. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $695.08.

Insider Activity at Costco Wholesale

In other Costco Wholesale news, EVP Claudine Adamo sold 1,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $714.83, for a total value of $1,072,245.00. Following the completion of the sale, 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 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, 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 transaction of $567,445.10. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 10,000 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $7,228,600. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Costco Wholesale

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 1.2% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 40,833,870 shares of the retailer's stock worth $29,916,118,000 after purchasing an additional 473,702 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Costco Wholesale in the 4th quarter worth about $3,628,694,000. Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 4.3% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 5,134,947 shares of the retailer's stock worth $2,901,040,000 after purchasing an additional 210,586 shares during the period. Capital World Investors lifted its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 8.1% in the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 3,824,778 shares of the retailer's stock worth $2,802,147,000 after purchasing an additional 285,533 shares during the period. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 61,693.5% in the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 3,105,124 shares of the retailer's stock worth $2,049,630,000 after purchasing an additional 3,100,099 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.48% of the company's stock.

Costco Wholesale Stock Performance

The company's 50-day moving average price is $733.30 and its 200 day moving average price is $682.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a current ratio of 0.93. The stock has a market capitalization of $345.00 billion, a PE ratio of 50.88, a PEG ratio of 5.24 and a beta of 0.77.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, March 7th. The retailer reported $3.71 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.62 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $58.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $59.11 billion. Costco Wholesale had a net margin of 2.73% and a return on equity of 28.80%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $3.30 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 15.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Costco Wholesale Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 10th. Investors of record on Friday, April 26th were paid a $1.16 dividend. This represents a $4.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.60%. This is a positive change from Costco Wholesale's previous quarterly dividend of $1.02. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 25th. Costco Wholesale's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 30.35%.

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.