Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) Stock Price Expected to Rise, Raymond James Analyst Says

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) had its price target increased by equities researchers at Raymond James from $990.00 to $1,030.00 in a report released on Thursday. The brokerage presently has an “overweight” rating on the retailer’s stock. Raymond James’ price target would suggest a potential upside of 4.11% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other research firms also recently issued reports on COST. Melius Research assumed coverage on shares of Costco Wholesale in a report on Monday, September 23rd. They issued a “hold” rating and a $950.00 price objective for the company. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $935.00 to $1,000.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $850.00 to $950.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. Redburn Atlantic downgraded Costco Wholesale from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their target price for the company from $860.00 to $890.00 in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $840.00 to $1,040.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nineteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $988.46.

Costco Wholesale Stock Up 0.1 %

Shares of COST opened at $989.35 on Thursday. Costco Wholesale has a 52 week low of $630.30 and a 52 week high of $1,007.80. The firm has a market cap of $438.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 59.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.05 and a beta of 0.82. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $926.84 and its 200 day simple moving average is $884.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a quick ratio of 0.44 and a current ratio of 0.97.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, September 26th. The retailer reported $5.15 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.05 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $79.70 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $79.91 billion. Costco Wholesale had a net margin of 2.90% and a return on equity of 31.05%. Costco Wholesale’s quarterly revenue was up 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $4.86 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Costco Wholesale will post 17.77 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Costco Wholesale

In related news, EVP Claudine Adamo sold 3,200 shares of Costco Wholesale 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 transaction, the executive vice president now owns 8,630 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,671,983.70. The trade was a 27.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Pierre Riel sold 2,000 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $896.71, for a total value of $1,793,420.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 10,210 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,155,409.10. The trade was a 16.38 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 11,016 shares of company stock valued at $9,826,115 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC purchased a new position in Costco Wholesale in the third quarter worth $29,000. Financial Connections Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 557.1% in the second quarter. Financial Connections Group Inc. now owns 46 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $39,000 after buying an additional 39 shares during the period. Summit Securities Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Costco Wholesale in the second quarter valued at $50,000. Fairway Wealth LLC raised its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 230.0% in the second quarter. Fairway Wealth LLC now owns 66 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $56,000 after buying an additional 46 shares during the period. Finally, Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Costco Wholesale in the third quarter valued at $58,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.