Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) Receives Neutral Rating from DA Davidson

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST)‘s stock had its “neutral” rating restated by investment analysts at DA Davidson in a report released on Thursday, Benzinga reports. They presently have a $880.00 price target on the retailer’s stock. DA Davidson’s price target points to a potential downside of 1.69% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other equities analysts also recently commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $855.00 to $950.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, September 9th. Gordon Haskett upgraded shares of Costco Wholesale from an “accumulate” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $925.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. Melius Research initiated coverage on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. They set a “hold” rating and a $950.00 price target for the company. Telsey Advisory Group reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $1,000.00 price target on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $925.00 to $935.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Costco Wholesale presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $886.74.

Costco Wholesale Stock Performance

NASDAQ:COST traded down $13.95 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $895.15. The stock had a trading volume of 559,525 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,952,516. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a current ratio of 0.97 and a quick ratio of 0.44. Costco Wholesale has a 1-year low of $540.23 and a 1-year high of $923.83. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $879.92 and its 200-day simple moving average is $825.10. The stock has a market capitalization of $396.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 55.46, a PEG ratio of 5.34 and a beta of 0.80.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, September 26th. The retailer reported $5.15 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.05 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $79.70 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $79.91 billion. Costco Wholesale had a net margin of 2.90% and a return on equity of 31.05%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $4.86 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Costco Wholesale will post 17.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Costco Wholesale news, EVP Claudine Adamo sold 3,200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $888.99, for a total transaction of $2,844,768.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 8,630 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,671,983.70. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other Costco Wholesale news, insider Daniel M. Hines sold 1,500 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction on Friday, July 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $844.20, for a total transaction of $1,266,300.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 12,492 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,545,746.40. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Claudine Adamo sold 3,200 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction on Monday, September 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $888.99, for a total transaction of $2,844,768.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 8,630 shares in the company, valued at $7,671,983.70. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 8,174 shares of company stock worth $7,097,624 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Costco Wholesale

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Fiduciary Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in Costco Wholesale in the 3rd quarter valued at about $249,000. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt boosted its stake in Costco Wholesale by 60.4% in the third quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt now owns 14,491 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $12,840,000 after buying an additional 5,456 shares in the last quarter. LongView Wealth Management boosted its stake in Costco Wholesale by 10.9% in the third quarter. LongView Wealth Management now owns 1,110 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $984,000 after buying an additional 109 shares in the last quarter. Iowa State Bank boosted its stake in Costco Wholesale by 8.0% in the third quarter. Iowa State Bank now owns 2,110 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,871,000 after buying an additional 157 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Walker Financial Services Inc. boosted its stake in Costco Wholesale by 8.9% in the third quarter. Walker Financial Services Inc. now owns 306 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $271,000 after buying an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. 68.48% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.