Brokerages Set Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) Price Target at $1,011.74

Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) has received a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-seven research firms that are covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nineteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $1,011.74.

A number of equities analysts recently commented on COST shares. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on Costco Wholesale from $1,075.00 to $1,175.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. TD Cowen raised their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $975.00 to $1,090.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $950.00 to $1,000.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Telsey Advisory Group reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $1,050.00 target price on shares of Costco Wholesale in a report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Redburn Atlantic downgraded 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 research note on Tuesday, September 10th.

Costco Wholesale Price Performance

Costco Wholesale stock opened at $939.70 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a quick ratio of 0.44 and a current ratio of 0.97. The company has a market capitalization of $417.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 55.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.02 and a beta of 0.82. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $941.03 and its 200-day simple moving average is $894.74. Costco Wholesale has a 1 year low of $640.51 and a 1 year high of $1,008.25.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, September 26th. The retailer reported $5.15 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 return on equity of 33.19% and a net margin of 2.93%. The firm’s revenue was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $4.86 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Costco Wholesale will post 17.83 earnings per share for the current year.

Costco Wholesale Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.49%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 1st. Costco Wholesale’s dividend payout ratio is currently 27.25%.

Insider Activity

In other Costco Wholesale 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 completion of the sale, 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Russell D. Miller sold 4,400 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 10,202 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,091,512.30. The trade was a 30.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 7,816 shares of company stock valued at $6,981,347. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Costco Wholesale

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of COST. Independent Solutions Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 2.5% in the third quarter. Independent Solutions Wealth Management LLC now owns 20,817 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $18,454,000 after acquiring an additional 514 shares in the last quarter. IMS Capital Management lifted its position in Costco Wholesale by 0.6% in the third quarter. IMS Capital Management now owns 3,816 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $3,383,000 after purchasing an additional 22 shares during the period. Legacy Wealth Management LLC MS boosted its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 2.7% in the 3rd quarter. Legacy Wealth Management LLC MS now owns 4,033 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $3,575,000 after purchasing an additional 106 shares in the last quarter. DGS Capital Management LLC increased its position in Costco Wholesale by 12.8% during the 3rd quarter. DGS Capital Management LLC now owns 756 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $671,000 after purchasing an additional 86 shares during the period. Finally, FFG Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. FFG Partners LLC now owns 23,814 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $21,112,000 after buying an additional 129 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.48% of the company’s stock.

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.