Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) Stock Price Up 0.2% Following Analyst Upgrade

Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) shares rose 0.2% during mid-day trading on Wednesday after Tigress Financial raised their price target on the stock from $870.00 to $975.00. Tigress Financial currently has a buy rating on the stock. Costco Wholesale traded as high as $858.29 and last traded at $857.25. Approximately 231,189 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 88% from the average daily volume of 1,966,170 shares. The stock had previously closed at $855.51.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently weighed in on the stock. Telsey Advisory Group upped their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $850.00 to $900.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 6th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Costco Wholesale from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Sunday, June 2nd. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $700.00 to $765.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 31st. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $860.00 to $890.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 20th. Finally, DA Davidson restated a “neutral” rating and set a $680.00 price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Costco Wholesale currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $756.85.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Richelieu Gestion SA purchased a new position in shares of Costco Wholesale in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Costco Wholesale in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Morton Brown Family Wealth LLC boosted its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 200.0% in the fourth quarter. Morton Brown Family Wealth LLC now owns 45 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the period. Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Costco Wholesale in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Finally, Redmont Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Costco Wholesale in the first quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.48% of the company’s stock.

Costco Wholesale Trading Up 0.2 %

The company’s 50 day moving average price is $793.52 and its 200 day moving average price is $735.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 0.94 and a quick ratio of 0.45. The firm has a market cap of $379.86 billion, a PE ratio of 53.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.66 and a beta of 0.79.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 30th. The retailer reported $3.78 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.70 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $58.52 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $58.16 billion. Costco Wholesale had a net margin of 2.83% and a return on equity of 30.02%. The firm’s revenue was up 9.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $3.43 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 15.98 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Costco Wholesale Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 10th. Investors of record on Friday, April 26th were issued a $1.16 dividend. This is a boost from Costco Wholesale’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.02. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 25th. This represents a $4.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.54%. Costco Wholesale’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 28.75%.

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.