Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) Stock Price Up 0.2% Following Analyst Upgrade

Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)’s stock price shot up 0.2% during mid-day trading on Wednesday after Tigress Financial raised their price target on the stock from $870.00 to $975.00. Tigress Financial currently has a buy rating on the stock. Costco Wholesale traded as high as $858.29 and last traded at $857.25. 231,189 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 88% from the average session volume of 1,966,170 shares. The stock had previously closed at $855.51.

COST has been the topic of several other reports. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on Costco Wholesale from $800.00 to $850.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 31st. Roth Mkm reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $676.00 price target (up previously from $650.00) on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research note on Friday, May 31st. Argus lifted their target price on Costco Wholesale from $805.00 to $900.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 28th. Telsey Advisory Group lifted their target price on Costco Wholesale from $850.00 to $900.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 6th. Finally, StockNews.com raised Costco Wholesale from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Sunday, June 2nd. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $756.85.

Insider Transactions at Costco Wholesale

In other news, EVP Russell D. Miller sold 785 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $722.86, for a total transaction of $567,445.10. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 10,000 shares in the company, valued at $7,228,600. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Costco Wholesale

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Richelieu Gestion SA bought a new stake in shares of Costco Wholesale in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Costco Wholesale during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Morton Brown Family Wealth LLC raised its position in Costco Wholesale by 200.0% during the fourth quarter. Morton Brown Family Wealth LLC now owns 45 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in Costco Wholesale during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Finally, Redmont Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Costco Wholesale during the first quarter valued at approximately $32,000. 68.48% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Costco Wholesale Trading Up 0.2 %

The firm has a market capitalization of $379.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 53.09, a P/E/G ratio of 5.66 and a beta of 0.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 0.94 and a quick ratio of 0.45. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $793.52 and its 200 day simple moving average is $735.97.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 30th. The retailer reported $3.78 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.70 by $0.08. Costco Wholesale had a net margin of 2.83% and a return on equity of 30.02%. The business had revenue of $58.52 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $58.16 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $3.43 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 15.98 earnings per share for the current year.

Costco Wholesale Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 26th were issued a dividend of $1.16 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 25th. This is an increase from Costco Wholesale’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.02. This represents a $4.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.54%. Costco Wholesale’s dividend payout ratio is 28.75%.

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.