Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) Trading Down 1% – Time to Sell?

Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)’s stock price traded down 1% during mid-day trading on Thursday . The stock traded as low as $958.59 and last traded at $961.55. 1,497,749 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 22% from the average session volume of 1,930,368 shares. The stock had previously closed at $971.50.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Oppenheimer lifted their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $955.00 to $980.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $855.00 to $950.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, September 9th. Melius Research began coverage on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. They issued a “hold” rating and a $950.00 target price for the company. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $980.00 to $1,075.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, November 18th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on Costco Wholesale from $925.00 to $935.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $908.81.

Costco Wholesale Stock Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $430.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 58.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.93 and a beta of 0.80. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $907.62 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $871.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a quick ratio of 0.44 and a current ratio of 0.97.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, September 26th. The retailer reported $5.15 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.05 by $0.10. Costco Wholesale had a return on equity of 31.05% and a net margin of 2.90%. The firm 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 company earned $4.86 earnings per share. Costco Wholesale’s quarterly revenue was up 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 17.75 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Costco Wholesale Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Friday, November 1st were paid a dividend of $1.16 per share. This represents a $4.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.48%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 1st. Costco Wholesale’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 28.00%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Costco Wholesale news, EVP Pierre Riel sold 2,000 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $896.71, for a total value of $1,793,420.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 10,210 shares in the company, valued at $9,155,409.10. The trade was a 16.38 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Russell D. Miller sold 4,400 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $891.15, for a total value of $3,921,060.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 10,202 shares in the company, valued at $9,091,512.30. The trade was a 30.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 11,016 shares of company stock valued at $9,826,115 over the last 90 days. 0.18% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Old North State Trust LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 1.1% during the third quarter. Old North State Trust LLC now owns 2,299 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $2,038,000 after acquiring an additional 26 shares during the period. Tidal Investments LLC lifted its position in Costco Wholesale by 30.2% in the 3rd quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 25,231 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $22,368,000 after purchasing an additional 5,853 shares during the last quarter. Blankinship & Foster LLC boosted its stake in Costco Wholesale by 5,552.6% during the 3rd quarter. Blankinship & Foster LLC now owns 18,258 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $16,186,000 after purchasing an additional 17,935 shares during the period. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB grew its position in Costco Wholesale by 214.7% in the 3rd quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 10,459 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $9,272,000 after purchasing an additional 7,135 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Arvest Bank Trust Division acquired a new stake in shares of Costco Wholesale in the third quarter valued at approximately $384,000. 68.48% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.