Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) Trading 0% Higher

Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) shares traded up 0% during trading on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $877.58 and last traded at $877.58. 360,284 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 82% from the average session volume of 1,961,001 shares. The stock had previously closed at $877.38.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $850.00 to $975.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 11th. TD Cowen raised their target price on Costco Wholesale from $925.00 to $975.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday. StockNews.com lowered Costco Wholesale from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $876.00 to $995.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $925.00 to $927.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 8th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Costco Wholesale has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $883.04.

Costco Wholesale Price Performance

The company has a current ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $871.96 and a 200 day moving average price of $819.44. The stock has a market capitalization of $389.45 billion, a PE ratio of 54.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.47 and a beta of 0.80.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last posted 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. Costco Wholesale had a return on equity of 30.02% and a net margin of 2.83%. The company had revenue of $79.70 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $79.91 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $4.86 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 16.02 earnings per share for the current year.

Costco Wholesale Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 9th. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 26th were given a dividend of $1.16 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, July 26th. This represents a $4.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.53%. Costco Wholesale’s dividend payout ratio is currently 28.75%.

Insider Activity

In other Costco Wholesale news, Director Kenneth D. Denman sold 350 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $851.53, for a total transaction of $298,035.50. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 5,920 shares in the company, valued at $5,041,057.60. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, Director Kenneth D. Denman sold 350 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $851.53, for a total value of $298,035.50. Following the transaction, the director now owns 5,920 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,041,057.60. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Daniel M. Hines sold 1,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $848.53, for a total transaction of $1,272,795.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 10,992 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,327,041.76. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 4,974 shares of company stock worth $4,252,856. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Oak Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 0.3% during the second quarter. Oak Asset Management LLC now owns 4,396 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $3,737,000 after acquiring an additional 12 shares during the period. Peddock Capital Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 0.7% during the second quarter. Peddock Capital Advisors LLC now owns 1,786 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,518,000 after buying an additional 12 shares in the last quarter. Bedel Financial Consulting Inc. lifted its stake in Costco Wholesale by 1.3% in the 1st quarter. Bedel Financial Consulting Inc. now owns 995 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $729,000 after acquiring an additional 13 shares in the last quarter. Boltwood Capital Management grew its stake in Costco Wholesale by 1.7% during the 2nd quarter. Boltwood Capital Management now owns 790 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $671,000 after acquiring an additional 13 shares in the last quarter. Finally, LifePro Asset Management lifted its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 3.8% in the second quarter. LifePro Asset Management now owns 358 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $304,000 after purchasing an additional 13 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.48% of the company’s stock.

About Costco Wholesale

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.