Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) PT Raised to $980.00

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) had its target price upped by stock analysts at Oppenheimer from $955.00 to $980.00 in a research note issued on Thursday, Marketbeat.com reports. The firm presently has an “outperform” rating on the retailer’s stock. Oppenheimer’s price objective points to a potential upside of 10.23% from the stock’s current price.

COST has been the topic of a number of other reports. BMO Capital Markets reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $980.00 price target (up from $950.00) on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $855.00 to $950.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, September 9th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $800.00 to $850.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $925.00 to $927.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. Finally, Redburn Atlantic lowered Costco Wholesale from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $860.00 to $890.00 in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Costco Wholesale presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $886.74.

Costco Wholesale Stock Performance

Shares of COST stock opened at $889.03 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a quick ratio of 0.44 and a current ratio of 0.97. The firm has a market cap of $394.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 55.08, a P/E/G ratio of 5.53 and a beta of 0.80. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $882.80 and its 200-day moving average price is $826.67. Costco Wholesale has a one year low of $540.23 and a one year high of $923.83.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last released 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 31.05% and a net margin of 2.90%. 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 prior year, the firm earned $4.86 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Costco Wholesale will post 17.73 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Claudine Adamo sold 3,200 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $888.99, for a total value of $2,844,768.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 8,630 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,671,983.70. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, EVP Claudine Adamo sold 3,200 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, September 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $888.99, for a total transaction of $2,844,768.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 8,630 shares in the company, valued at $7,671,983.70. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Daniel M. Hines sold 1,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 10,992 shares in the company, valued at $9,327,041.76. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 6,674 shares of company stock valued at $5,831,324 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Costco Wholesale

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Biltmore Family Office LLC grew its position in Costco Wholesale by 8.4% in the 4th quarter. Biltmore Family Office LLC now owns 786 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $531,000 after buying an additional 61 shares during the last quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 24.0% in the 4th quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 630,275 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $416,032,000 after acquiring an additional 122,053 shares during the period. Buckingham Strategic Wealth LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. Buckingham Strategic Wealth LLC now owns 18,481 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $12,199,000 after acquiring an additional 513 shares in the last quarter. Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT increased its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT now owns 158,156 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $104,396,000 after acquiring an additional 580 shares during the period. Finally, Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund boosted its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 38.5% in the 4th quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 352,961 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $232,982,000 after purchasing an additional 98,184 shares in the last quarter. 68.48% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.