Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) Shares Down 0.4%

Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)’s share price dropped 0.4% on Friday . The stock traded as low as $855.09 and last traded at $858.75. Approximately 1,224,202 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 38% from the average daily volume of 1,963,146 shares. The stock had previously closed at $862.44.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have issued reports on COST. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $750.00 to $775.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 31st. Roth Mkm reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $676.00 target price (up from $650.00) on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research report on Friday, May 31st. Truist Financial raised their price target on Costco Wholesale from $815.00 to $873.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 31st. Loop Capital boosted their price target on Costco Wholesale from $890.00 to $940.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, June 14th. Finally, Oppenheimer raised their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $850.00 to $905.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 6th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $752.96.

Costco Wholesale Stock Down 1.6 %

The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $788.13 and its 200-day simple moving average is $731.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a current ratio of 0.94. The company has a market capitalization of $376.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 52.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.70 and a beta of 0.79.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last released its earnings results 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 return on equity of 30.02% and a net margin of 2.83%. The business had revenue of $58.52 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $58.16 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $3.43 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 15.98 earnings per share for the current year.

Costco Wholesale Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 26th were given a dividend of $1.16 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 25th. This is a boost from Costco Wholesale’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.02. This represents a $4.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.55%. Costco Wholesale’s payout ratio is currently 28.75%.

Insider Activity at Costco Wholesale

In other Costco Wholesale news, EVP Russell D. Miller sold 785 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $722.86, for a total value of $567,445.10. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 10,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,228,600. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Richelieu Gestion SA acquired a new position in shares of Costco Wholesale in the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Costco Wholesale in the fourth quarter valued at $26,000. Redmont Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Costco Wholesale during the first quarter worth $32,000. Morton Brown Family Wealth LLC raised its stake in Costco Wholesale by 200.0% during the fourth quarter. Morton Brown Family Wealth LLC now owns 45 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Costco Wholesale during the fourth quarter valued at $30,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.