NASDAQ:COST

Costco Wholesale (COST) Stock Forecast, Price & News

$507.26

+20.71 (+4.26%)

(As of 05/26/2023 08:46 PM ET)

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Today's Range: $484.12
▼
$510.75
50-Day Range: $482.76
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$511.42
52-Week Range: $443.20
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$564.75

Volume: 5.30 million shs
Average Volume: 1.91 million shs
Market Capitalization: $224.96 billion

P/E Ratio: 37.27
Dividend Yield: 0.80%
Price Target: $547.72

Costco Wholesale MarketRank™ Forecast

Analyst Rating: Moderate Buy
2.80 Rating Score
Upside/Downside: 8.0% Upside
$547.72 Price Target
Short Interest: Healthy
0.76% of Float Sold Short
Dividend Strength: Strong
Based on Four Factors
Sustainability: -2.29
Upright™ Environmental Score
News Sentiment: 0.30
Based on 76 Articles This Week
Insider Trading: Selling Shares
$2.03 M Sold Last Quarter
Proj. Earnings Growth: 7.11%
From $14.35 to $15.37 Per Share

Overall MarketRank^™

MarketRank is calculated as an average of available category scores, with extra weight given to analysis and valuation.

2.53 out of 5 stars

Retail/Wholesale Sector

61st out of 215 stocks

Variety Stores Industry

6th out of 11 stocks

2.4

Analyst's Opinion

Consensus Rating
Costco Wholesale has received a consensus rating of Buy. The company's average rating score is 2.80, and is based on 16 buy ratings, 4 hold ratings, and no sell ratings.
Price Target Upside/Downside
According to analysts' consensus price target of $547.72, Costco Wholesale has a forecasted upside of 8.0% from its current price of $507.26.
Amount of Analyst Coverage
Costco Wholesale has been the subject of 7 research reports in the past 90 days, demonstrating strong analyst interest in this stock.

4.0

Short Interest

Percentage of Shares Shorted
0.76% of the float of Costco Wholesale has been sold short.
Short Interest Ratio / Days to Cover
Costco Wholesale has a short interest ratio ("days to cover") of 1.8, which is generally considered an acceptable ratio of short interest to trading volume.
Change versus previous month
Short interest in Costco Wholesale has recently decreased by 4.00%, indicating that investor sentiment is improving.

3.3

Dividend Strength

Dividend Yield
Costco Wholesale has a dividend yield of 0.80%, which is in the bottom 25% of all stocks that pay dividends.
Dividend Growth
Costco Wholesale has been increasing its dividend for 19 years.
Dividend Coverage
The dividend payout ratio of Costco Wholesale is 29.98%. This payout ratio is at a healthy, sustainable level, below 75%.
Dividend Sustainability
Based on earnings estimates, Costco Wholesale will have a dividend payout ratio of 26.55% next year. This indicates that Costco Wholesale will be able to sustain or increase its dividend.

1.5

Sustainability and ESG

Overall ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) Score
Costco Wholesale has received a -23.27% net impact score from Upright. The largest negative impact of Costco in category "Physical diseases" seems to be driven mostly by its "Physical retail of tobacco products at a hypermarket", "Physical retail of alcoholic beverages at a hypermarket", and "Physical retail of ready meals" products. See details.
Environmental Sustainability
The Environmental Impact score for Costco Wholesale is -2.29.

2.9

News and Social Media Coverage

News Sentiment
Costco Wholesale has a news sentiment score of 0.30. This score is calculated as an average of sentiment of articles about the company over the last seven days and ranges from 2 (good news) to -2 (bad news). This is a lower news sentiment than the 0.52 average news sentiment score of Retail/Wholesale companies.
News Coverage This Week
MarketBeat has tracked 76 news articles for Costco Wholesale this week, compared to 37 articles on an average week.
Search Interest
139 people have searched for COST on MarketBeat in the last 30 days. This is an increase of 14% compared to the previous 30 days.
MarketBeat Follows
53 people have added Costco Wholesale to their MarketBeat watchlist in the last 30 days. This is an increase of 36% compared to the previous 30 days.

2.5

Company Ownership

Insider Buying vs. Insider Selling
In the past three months, Costco Wholesale insiders have sold more of their company's stock than they have bought. Specifically, they have bought $0.00 in company stock and sold $2,031,341.00 in company stock.
Percentage Held by Insiders
Only 0.22% of the stock of Costco Wholesale is held by insiders.
Percentage Held by Institutions
66.03% of the stock of Costco Wholesale is held by institutions. High institutional ownership can be a signal of strong market trust in this company.

1.9

Earnings and Valuation

Earnings Growth
Earnings for Costco Wholesale are expected to grow by 7.11% in the coming year, from $14.35 to $15.37 per share.
Price to Earnings Ratio vs. the Market
The P/E ratio of Costco Wholesale is 37.27, which means that it is trading at a less expensive P/E ratio than the market average P/E ratio of about 134.72.
Price to Earnings Ratio vs. Sector
The P/E ratio of Costco Wholesale is 37.27, which means that it is trading at a more expensive P/E ratio than the Retail/Wholesale sector average P/E ratio of about 34.50.
Price to Earnings Growth Ratio
Costco Wholesale has a PEG Ratio of 4.22. PEG Ratios above 1 indicate that a company could be overvalued.
Price to Book Value per Share Ratio
Costco Wholesale has a P/B Ratio of 10.87. P/B Ratios above 3 indicate that a company could be overvalued with respect to its assets and liabilities.

See Top Rated MarketRank™ Stocks Here

About Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) Stock

Costco Wholesale Corporation is central to the global warehouse membership club story. The company was founded in 1983 by Jim Sinegal and Jeffrey Brotman but its history dates back to 1976 because of the merger with Price Club. Costco, originally known as Costco Companies, quickly grew in its first two years and became the 1st company to go from $0 to $3 billion in revenue within the 1st 3 years. The company held its IPO in 1985.

Price Club was founded in 1976 by the Price family. It was among the very first warehouse membership clubs and targeted small merchants and businesses. It also saw quick success and went public in 1980. The Price family turned down an offer to merge with Walmart’s Sam’s Club in favor of a more suitable match-up with Costco. Coincidentally, Costco founder Jim Sinegal got his start in the retail business working for Sol Price at his original membership club, FedMart.

The new company was formed in 1993. It owned 206 stores and was called PriceCostco for a time. The Price family eventually exit the business in favor of new operations resulting in the rebranding to Costco Wholesale Corporation. The Price family's new business is called PriceSmart and operates a chain of membership clubs in the Caribbean and Central America. Price Club’s first store, opened in an old Howard Hughes airplane hangar, is still in operation and known as Costco #401.

Today, Costco is based in Issaquah, Washington and it is among the largest businesses in the world. The company operates as a member-only big-box retailer claiming more than 118 million members, it is ranked #10 on the Forbes Fortune 500 list and is the 5th largest retailer internationally. In terms of scale, it is the largest retailer of choice and prime beef, organic foods and rotisserie chickens. Rotisserie chickens are a long-standing tradition at Costco which pioneered their use. The chickens are sold for less than cost and used to attract business into the store.

The company operates through a network of subsidiaries that own warehouses in 11 countries, including the US and Puerto Rico. The company retails branded and private-label merchandise across verticals and categories and at “discounted” or bulk-rate prices. Product categories include grocery and frozen foods, apparel, sporting goods, electronics, auto care, appliances, housewares and even furniture. Nearly 70% of the stores are located in the US with another 13% in Canada and the remainder scattered around the globe.

In addition to retail, the company also provides many services including pharmacy, eye care, food & beverage and auto care centers. The company also operates more than 665 gas stations across its footprint and a robust eCommerce channel. Other services include delivery, travel and curbside pickup. As of the year-end calendar 2022, the company operated more than 840 stores and was on track to open new stores in the coming years. Total revenue in 2022 topped $226 billion, the company employs more than 304,000 individuals and it is a member of the S&P 500, the S&P 100 and the NASDAQ 100.

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UBS Group Cuts Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) Price Target to $560.00

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