Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) Shares Down 1.4% – Here’s What Happened

Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)’s stock price was down 1.4% during mid-day trading on Thursday . The stock traded as low as $895.66 and last traded at $896.61. Approximately 448,499 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 77% from the average daily volume of 1,951,950 shares. The stock had previously closed at $909.10.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

COST has been the topic of a number of research reports. Barclays raised their price target on Costco Wholesale from $830.00 to $850.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Roth Mkm raised their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $676.00 to $755.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Gordon Haskett raised Costco Wholesale from an “accumulate” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $925.00 target price for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Costco Wholesale from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $925.00 to $935.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $886.74.

Costco Wholesale Stock Down 1.6 %

The company has a quick ratio of 0.44, a current ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $879.92 and a 200 day simple moving average of $825.10. The firm has a market capitalization of $396.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 55.46, a P/E/G ratio of 5.34 and a beta of 0.80.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last announced its quarterly 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. The company had revenue of $79.70 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $79.91 billion. Costco Wholesale had a net margin of 2.90% and a return on equity of 31.05%. Costco Wholesale’s revenue was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $4.86 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 17.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Costco Wholesale

In related news, EVP Claudine Adamo sold 3,200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $888.99, for a total value of $2,844,768.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 8,630 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,671,983.70. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, Director Kenneth D. Denman sold 350 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $851.53, for a total transaction of $298,035.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 5,920 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,041,057.60. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Claudine Adamo sold 3,200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 8,630 shares in the company, valued at $7,671,983.70. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 8,174 shares of company stock valued at $7,097,624 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Costco Wholesale

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Wulff Hansen & CO. boosted its position in Costco Wholesale by 99,208.6% in the second quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 1,474,733 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,253,508,000 after purchasing an additional 1,473,248 shares during the last quarter. Global Assets Advisory LLC purchased a new position in shares of Costco Wholesale in the first quarter worth approximately $510,353,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its position in Costco Wholesale by 287.3% during the second quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 836,247 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $710,802,000 after buying an additional 620,341 shares during the period. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC increased its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 51,747.5% during the second quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 619,578 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $5,266,000 after buying an additional 618,383 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 40,360,168 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $26,640,940,000 after buying an additional 485,051 shares during the last quarter. 68.48% of the stock is owned by 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.