Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) Trading Up 1.4% – Time to Buy?

Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)’s stock price traded up 1.4% on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $1,007.56 and last traded at $1,007.39. 458,535 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 76% from the average session volume of 1,916,825 shares. The stock had previously closed at $993.40.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $1,075.00 target price (up from $980.00) on shares of Costco Wholesale in a report on Tuesday. Redburn Atlantic lowered shares of Costco Wholesale from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $860.00 to $890.00 in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. Loop Capital boosted their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $975.00 to $1,005.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,050.00 to $1,145.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Finally, Melius Research initiated coverage on shares of Costco Wholesale in a report on Monday, September 23rd. They issued a “hold” rating and a $950.00 price target for the company. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nineteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $931.89.

Costco Wholesale Stock Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $441.91 billion, a PE ratio of 60.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.05 and a beta of 0.82. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $920.14 and its 200-day moving average is $881.93. The company has a current ratio of 0.97, a quick ratio of 0.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, September 26th. The retailer reported $5.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.05 by $0.10. The firm 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 revenue was up 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $4.86 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 17.74 earnings per share for the current year.

Costco Wholesale Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 1st were paid a dividend of $1.16 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 1st. This represents a $4.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.47%. Costco Wholesale’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 28.00%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Costco Wholesale news, EVP Claudine Adamo sold 3,200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 8,630 shares in the company, valued at $7,671,983.70. This represents a 27.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Richard A. Galanti sold 1,416 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $894.68, for a total transaction of $1,266,866.88. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 27,400 shares in the company, valued at $24,514,232. This trade represents a 4.91 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 11,016 shares of company stock worth $9,826,115 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Costco Wholesale

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Fermata Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 0.6% during the third quarter. Fermata Advisors LLC now owns 1,968 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,745,000 after buying an additional 11 shares during the period. Sculati Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 0.3% in the third quarter. Sculati Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,649 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $3,235,000 after purchasing an additional 11 shares in the last quarter. Peddock Capital Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 0.7% in the second quarter. Peddock Capital Advisors LLC now owns 1,786 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,518,000 after purchasing an additional 12 shares in the last quarter. Perkins Coie Trust Co boosted its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 0.3% in the third quarter. Perkins Coie Trust Co now owns 4,675 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $4,144,000 after purchasing an additional 12 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Horizon Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 4.7% in the third quarter. Horizon Wealth Management LLC now owns 268 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $237,000 after purchasing an additional 12 shares in the last quarter. 68.48% of the stock is currently 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.