Weiss Ratings Reaffirms "Buy (B-)" Rating for Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST)

Key Points

• Weiss Ratings has reaffirmed a "Buy (B-)" rating for Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST), reflecting confidence in the company's performance.
• While most analysts maintain a Buy rating, target price estimates for Costco have varied, with some brokerages lowering their targets and others increasing them, resulting in an average target price of $1,068.15.
• Costco reported $5.87 earnings per share for the last quarter, exceeding analyst expectations, and showed an increase in revenue of 8.1% year-over-year.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "buy (b-)" rating restated by Weiss Ratings in a report issued on Friday,Weiss Ratings reports.

A number of other brokerages also recently weighed in on COST. Daiwa Capital Markets lowered their target price on Costco Wholesale from $1,005.00 to $947.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, September 30th. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,137.00 to $1,140.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, September 26th. Telsey Advisory Group reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $1,100.00 target price on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research report on Wednesday, September 24th. Argus boosted their target price on Costco Wholesale from $1,170.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, September 29th. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $1,225.00 to $1,130.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Friday, September 26th. Nineteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $1,068.15.

Costco Wholesale Trading Down 1.1%

Costco Wholesale stock traded down $9.91 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $932.14. 1,636,648 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,602,893. Costco Wholesale has a 12 month low of $867.34 and a 12 month high of $1,078.23. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $945.23 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $971.67. The stock has a market capitalization of $413.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 51.19, a PEG ratio of 5.72 and a beta of 0.98. The company has a quick ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, September 25th. The retailer reported $5.87 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $5.81 by $0.06. Costco Wholesale had a net margin of 2.94% and a return on equity of 30.09%. The business had revenue of $86.16 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $86.01 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $5.15 earnings per share. Costco Wholesale's quarterly revenue was up 8.1% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Costco Wholesale will post 18.03 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Costco Wholesale

In other news, EVP Teresa A. Jones sold 600 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $992.05, for a total transaction of $595,230.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 2,362 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,343,222.10. This represents a 20.26% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Tiffany Marie Barbre sold 1,239 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $934.62, for a total transaction of $1,157,994.18. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 5,155 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,817,966.10. This represents a 19.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 7,920 shares of company stock worth $7,373,175 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Costco Wholesale

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 1.7% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 43,356,271 shares of the retailer's stock worth $42,920,107,000 after acquiring an additional 711,560 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its position in Costco Wholesale by 0.5% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 18,325,416 shares of the retailer's stock worth $18,141,062,000 after purchasing an additional 90,107 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Costco Wholesale by 1.5% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 10,275,056 shares of the retailer's stock worth $10,124,263,000 after purchasing an additional 150,844 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in Costco Wholesale during the second quarter worth about $5,692,035,000. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. boosted its position in Costco Wholesale by 0.4% during the first quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 4,332,009 shares of the retailer's stock worth $4,097,127,000 after purchasing an additional 18,045 shares during the period. 68.48% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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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