Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) Posts Quarterly Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.10 EPS

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) announced its earnings results on Thursday. The retailer reported $5.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.05 by $0.10, Briefing.com reports. Costco Wholesale had a net margin of 2.83% and a return on equity of 30.02%. The company had revenue of $79.70 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $79.91 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $4.86 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year.

Costco Wholesale Stock Performance

Costco Wholesale stock opened at $901.44 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a current ratio of 0.94. Costco Wholesale has a fifty-two week low of $540.23 and a fifty-two week high of $923.83. The stock has a market cap of $399.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 55.85, a PEG ratio of 5.57 and a beta of 0.80. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $869.72 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $814.95.

Costco Wholesale Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 9th. Investors of record on Friday, July 26th were paid a $1.16 dividend. This represents a $4.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.51%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, July 26th. Costco Wholesale’s payout ratio is currently 28.75%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on COST. Gordon Haskett upgraded Costco Wholesale from an “accumulate” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $925.00 price objective for the company in a report on Thursday, August 8th. Oppenheimer upped their target price on Costco Wholesale from $925.00 to $955.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, September 6th. DA Davidson reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $780.00 price target on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research note on Friday, September 6th. Telsey Advisory Group upped their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $925.00 to $1,000.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, Melius Research began coverage on shares of Costco Wholesale in a report on Monday. They set a “hold” rating and a $950.00 target price on the stock. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nineteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $861.37.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Costco Wholesale news, insider Daniel M. Hines sold 1,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $844.20, for a total value of $1,266,300.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 12,492 shares in the company, valued at $10,545,746.40. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, insider Daniel M. Hines sold 1,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $844.20, for a total value of $1,266,300.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 12,492 shares in the company, valued at $10,545,746.40. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Richard A. Galanti sold 500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $874.05, for a total value of $437,025.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 22,900 shares in the company, valued at $20,015,745. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 4,974 shares of company stock worth $4,252,856. 0.18% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.