Roth Capital Forecasts Reduced Earnings for Costco Wholesale

Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST - Free Report) - Equities research analysts at Roth Capital cut their FY2025 earnings per share estimates for Costco Wholesale in a research note issued on Thursday, July 10th. Roth Capital analyst W. Kirk now anticipates that the retailer will post earnings per share of $18.06 for the year, down from their previous forecast of $18.82. The consensus estimate for Costco Wholesale's current full-year earnings is $18.03 per share. Roth Capital also issued estimates for Costco Wholesale's Q4 2025 earnings at $5.95 EPS and Q1 2026 earnings at $4.52 EPS.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST - Get Free Report) last posted 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 company had revenue of $63.21 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $62.93 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $3.78 earnings per share. The business's revenue was up 8.0% compared to the same quarter last year.

COST has been the topic of a number of other reports. Stifel Nicolaus set a $1,035.00 price objective on Costco Wholesale in a research note on Thursday, May 29th. Cfra Research upgraded Costco Wholesale from a "hold" rating to a "moderate buy" rating in a research note on Friday, April 4th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Costco Wholesale from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, June 6th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $1,150.00 to $1,225.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, May 30th. Finally, Mizuho initiated coverage on Costco Wholesale in a research note on Friday, April 11th. They set a "neutral" rating and a $975.00 price target on the stock. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $1,037.48.

Costco Wholesale Price Performance

NASDAQ COST opened at $970.33 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a current ratio of 1.02 and a quick ratio of 0.52. The stock's 50-day moving average is $1,003.77 and its two-hundred day moving average is $982.24. The firm has a market cap of $430.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 55.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.03 and a beta of 0.97. Costco Wholesale has a fifty-two week low of $793.00 and a fifty-two week high of $1,078.24.

Institutional Trading of Costco Wholesale

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 106,402.1% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 8,160,190 shares of the retailer's stock valued at $7,717,744,000 after purchasing an additional 8,152,528 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Costco Wholesale during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $5,182,316,000. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in Costco Wholesale during the first quarter valued at approximately $3,461,159,000. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC grew its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 418,980.3% during the second 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 period. Finally, Leigh Baldwin & CO. LLC acquired a new position in Costco Wholesale during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $95,452,000. Institutional investors own 68.48% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Costco Wholesale

In related news, EVP Patrick J. Callans sold 3,000 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,002.77, for a total value of $3,008,310.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 58,543 shares in the company, valued at $58,705,164.11. This trade represents a 4.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Susan L. Decker sold 547 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $980.00, for a total value of $536,060.00. Following the sale, the director directly 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. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 9,547 shares of company stock worth $9,496,950. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company's stock.

Costco Wholesale Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 16th. Investors of record on Friday, May 2nd were issued a $1.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 2nd. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.54%. This is a positive change from Costco Wholesale's previous quarterly dividend of $1.16. Costco Wholesale's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 29.50%.

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.

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