Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) Trading Down 1.2%

Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) shares fell 1.2% during trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as low as $873.19 and last traded at $875.95. 497,200 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 75% from the average session volume of 1,962,384 shares. The stock had previously closed at $886.52.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have commented on COST. Roth Mkm raised their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $676.00 to $755.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday. StockNews.com cut shares of Costco Wholesale from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $800.00 to $850.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday. DA Davidson raised their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $780.00 to $880.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday. Finally, Tigress Financial raised their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $870.00 to $975.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 25th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $883.04.

Costco Wholesale Price Performance

The stock’s 50-day moving average is $871.45 and its 200-day moving average is $818.37. The firm has a market cap of $391.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 54.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.47 and a beta of 0.80. The company has a quick ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, September 26th. The retailer reported $5.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.05 by $0.10. Costco Wholesale had a net margin of 2.83% and a return on equity of 30.02%. The business had revenue of $79.70 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $79.91 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $4.86 earnings per share. Costco Wholesale’s revenue was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 16.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Costco Wholesale Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 9th. Investors of record on Friday, July 26th were given a dividend of $1.16 per share. This represents a $4.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.53%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, July 26th. Costco Wholesale’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 28.75%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Costco Wholesale news, Director Susan L. Decker sold 620 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $876.50, for a total transaction of $543,430.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 11,775 shares in the company, valued at $10,320,787.50. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, insider Daniel M. Hines sold 1,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, July 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $844.20, for a total value of $1,266,300.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 12,492 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,545,746.40. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Susan L. Decker sold 620 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $876.50, for a total transaction of $543,430.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 11,775 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,320,787.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 4,974 shares of company stock worth $4,252,856 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Costco Wholesale

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Costco Wholesale in the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Redmont Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Costco Wholesale during the 1st quarter worth about $32,000. Financial Connections Group Inc. lifted its position in Costco Wholesale by 557.1% during the 2nd quarter. Financial Connections Group Inc. now owns 46 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $39,000 after buying an additional 39 shares in the last quarter. Vima LLC acquired a new position in Costco Wholesale during the 4th quarter worth about $34,000. Finally, Bank & Trust Co acquired a new position in Costco Wholesale during the 2nd quarter worth about $48,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.48% of the company’s stock.

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.