Costco Wholesale - COST Stock Forecast, Price & News

Costco Wholesale Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the operation of membership warehouses in the United States, Puerto Rico, Canada, the United Kingdom, Mexico, Japan, Korea, Australia, Spain, France, Iceland, China, and Taiwan. It offers branded and private-label products in a range of merchandise categories. The company offers sundries, dry groceries, candies, coolers, freezers, liquor, and tobacco and deli products; appliances, electronics, health and beauty aids, hardware, garden and patio products, sporting goods, tires, toys and seasonal products, office supplies, automotive care products, postages, tickets, apparel, small appliances, furniture, domestics, housewares, special order kiosks, and jewelry; and meat, produce, service deli, and bakery products. It also operates pharmacies, opticals, food courts, hearing-aid centers, and tire installation centers, as well as 636 gas stations; and offers business delivery, travel, same-day grocery, and various other services online in various countries. As of August 29, 2021, the company operated 815 membership warehouses, including 564 in the United States and Puerto Rico, 105 in Canada, 39 in Mexico, 30 in Japan, 29 in the United Kingdom, 16 in South Korea, 14 in Taiwan, 12 in Australia, 3 in Spain, 1 in Iceland, 1 in France, and 1 in China. It also operates e-commerce websites in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Mexico, South Korea, Taiwan, Japan, and Australia. The company was formerly known as Costco Companies, Inc. and changed its name to Costco Wholesale Corporation in August 1999. Costco Wholesale Corporation was founded in 1976 and is based in Issaquah, Washington.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have commented on the stock. Oppenheimer increased their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $535.00 to $600.00 in a research note on Thursday, August 4th. StockNews.com upgraded Costco Wholesale from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, July 15th. Telsey Advisory Group dropped their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $615.00 to $590.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 27th. Credit Suisse Group reduced their target price on Costco Wholesale from $570.00 to $550.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 27th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on Costco Wholesale from $555.00 to $565.00 in a research note on Thursday, May 5th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-two have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $576.68.

Costco Wholesale Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:COST traded up $5.01 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $537.21. The company had a trading volume of 1,918,238 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,149,282. The firm has a market cap of $237.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.30, a PEG ratio of 4.44 and a beta of 0.69. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $499.50 and its 200 day simple moving average is $516.97. Costco Wholesale has a one year low of $406.51 and a one year high of $612.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 0.48 and a current ratio of 1.04.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST - Get Rating) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 26th. The retailer reported $3.17 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.00 by $0.17. The firm had revenue of $52.60 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $51.49 billion. Costco Wholesale had a net margin of 2.60% and a return on equity of 29.71%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 18.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.75 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Costco Wholesale will post 13.05 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Costco Wholesale Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 12th. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 29th were issued a $0.09 dividend. This represents a $0.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.07%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 28th. Costco Wholesale's dividend payout ratio is presently 28.35%.

Insider Activity

In other Costco Wholesale news, Director Mary Agnes Wilderotter acquired 850 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 7th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $470.74 per share, with a total value of $400,129.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 11,295 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,317,008.30. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, Director Mary Agnes Wilderotter acquired 850 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 7th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $470.74 per share, for a total transaction of $400,129.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 11,295 shares in the company, valued at $5,317,008.30. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, VP James P. Murphy sold 2,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $464.00, for a total transaction of $1,160,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 37,730 shares in the company, valued at approximately $17,506,720. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 5,300 shares of company stock worth $2,609,904. Insiders own 0.22% of the company's stock.