Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) Price Target Raised to $927.00 at Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) had its price objective increased by equities research analysts at Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft from $925.00 to $927.00 in a research note issued to investors on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a “buy” rating on the retailer’s stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft’s price objective points to a potential upside of 8.43% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other analysts have also weighed in on the stock. Evercore ISI reduced their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $920.00 to $915.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Roth Mkm restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $676.00 target price (up from $650.00) on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research note on Friday, May 31st. Bank of America upped their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $874.00 to $962.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 11th. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $710.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, May 31st. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Costco Wholesale from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Sunday, June 2nd. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Costco Wholesale currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $821.62.

Costco Wholesale Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ COST traded up $15.50 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $854.93. 1,710,588 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,000,016. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 0.94 and a quick ratio of 0.45. Costco Wholesale has a 1 year low of $530.56 and a 1 year high of $896.67. The company has a market capitalization of $379.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 52.97, a PEG ratio of 5.49 and a beta of 0.78. The company’s 50-day moving average is $844.97 and its two-hundred day moving average is $775.70.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 30th. The retailer reported $3.78 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.70 by $0.08. Costco Wholesale had a net margin of 2.83% and a return on equity of 30.02%. The company had revenue of $58.52 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $58.16 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $3.43 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Costco Wholesale will post 15.97 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Costco Wholesale

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 value of $1,266,300.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 12,492 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,545,746.40. 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 Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction dated 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 $10,545,746.40. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Kenneth D. Denman sold 350 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the director now owns 5,920 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,041,057.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 3,350 shares of company stock valued at $2,837,131. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Costco Wholesale

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Costco Wholesale by 1.2% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 40,833,870 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $29,916,118,000 after acquiring an additional 473,702 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Costco Wholesale during the fourth quarter worth about $3,628,694,000. Capital World Investors raised its stake in Costco Wholesale by 8.1% during the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 3,824,778 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $2,802,147,000 after purchasing an additional 285,533 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its stake in Costco Wholesale by 3.2% during the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 2,794,480 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,844,581,000 after purchasing an additional 85,398 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in Costco Wholesale by 3.0% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,657,994 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,754,489,000 after purchasing an additional 77,345 shares during the period. 68.48% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.