Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) Earns “Outperform” Rating from Telsey Advisory Group

Telsey Advisory Group reiterated their outperform rating on shares of Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) in a research report report published on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $1,050.00 target price on the retailer’s stock.

COST has been the topic of a number of other research reports. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $925.00 to $975.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Roth Mkm boosted their price target on Costco Wholesale from $676.00 to $755.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $840.00 to $1,040.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price 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. Finally, Raymond James raised their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $990.00 to $1,030.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nineteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $988.46.

Costco Wholesale Stock Up 0.1 %

COST stock opened at $989.35 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $926.84 and a 200-day moving average price of $884.70. Costco Wholesale has a 12 month low of $630.30 and a 12 month high of $1,007.80. The company has a current ratio of 0.97, a quick ratio of 0.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25. The stock has a market capitalization 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.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, September 26th. The retailer reported $5.15 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.05 by $0.10. The business 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 was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $4.86 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Costco Wholesale will post 17.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Costco Wholesale Announces Dividend

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

Insider Transactions at Costco Wholesale

In other news, EVP Richard A. Galanti sold 1,416 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 27,400 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $24,514,232. This represents a 4.91 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Russell D. Miller sold 4,400 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, October 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $891.15, for a total value of $3,921,060.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 10,202 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,091,512.30. This represents a 30.13 % 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 valued at $9,826,115 in the last 90 days. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Costco Wholesale in the 3rd quarter worth about $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 worth $39,000 after purchasing an additional 39 shares during the last quarter. Summit Securities Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Costco Wholesale in the second quarter valued at approximately $50,000. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Costco Wholesale during the third quarter valued at approximately $58,000. Finally, Fairway Wealth LLC grew its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 230.0% during the second quarter. Fairway Wealth LLC now owns 66 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $56,000 after buying an additional 46 shares in the last quarter. 68.48% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Costco Wholesale Company Profile

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.