Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) Stock Rating Reaffirmed by BMO Capital Markets

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST)‘s stock had its “outperform” rating reaffirmed by equities researchers at BMO Capital Markets in a research note issued to investors on Friday, Benzinga reports. They presently have a $980.00 price objective on the retailer’s stock, up from their previous price objective of $950.00. BMO Capital Markets’ price target indicates a potential upside of 11.36% from the company’s current price.

A number of other research firms have also recently issued reports on COST. Tigress Financial upped their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $870.00 to $975.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 25th. Gordon Haskett upgraded shares of Costco Wholesale from an “accumulate” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $925.00 price target for the company in a report on Thursday, August 8th. TD Cowen raised their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $850.00 to $925.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 12th. Bank of America upped their target price on Costco Wholesale from $874.00 to $962.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 11th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price target on Costco Wholesale from $765.00 to $830.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 11th. Nine 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 currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $862.85.

Costco Wholesale Price Performance

Shares of COST traded down $21.44 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $880.00. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 668,203 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,954,312. The company has a quick ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. Costco Wholesale has a one year low of $540.23 and a one year high of $923.83. The stock has a market capitalization of $390.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 54.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.57 and a beta of 0.80. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $869.72 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $814.95.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last released its earnings results on Thursday, September 26th. The retailer reported $5.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.05 by $0.10. The firm 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 30.02% and a net margin of 2.83%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $4.86 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Costco Wholesale will post 16.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Kenneth D. Denman sold 350 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $851.53, for a total value of $298,035.50. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 5,920 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,041,057.60. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other news, EVP Richard A. Galanti sold 500 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $863.88, for a total transaction of $431,940.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 23,800 shares in the company, valued at $20,560,344. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Kenneth D. Denman sold 350 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $851.53, for a total transaction of $298,035.50. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 5,920 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,041,057.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 4,974 shares of company stock worth $4,252,856. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Costco Wholesale

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Costco Wholesale by 1.2% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 40,833,870 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $29,916,118,000 after buying an additional 473,702 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors raised its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 8.1% in the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 3,824,778 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $2,802,147,000 after purchasing an additional 285,533 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 2.5% during the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 3,650,562 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $3,102,941,000 after purchasing an additional 88,550 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 3.0% during the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 2,790,935 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,842,241,000 after purchasing an additional 81,853 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in Costco Wholesale by 28.2% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,538,078 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,307,363,000 after purchasing an additional 338,780 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.