Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) Trading Down 1.8% – Time to Sell?

Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)’s stock price traded down 1.8% during mid-day trading on Friday . The company traded as low as $937.43 and last traded at $939.38. 402,343 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 79% from the average session volume of 1,937,516 shares. The stock had previously closed at $956.14.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have weighed in on COST. Roth Mkm upped their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $755.00 to $907.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Costco Wholesale from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $1,050.00 to $1,145.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on Costco Wholesale from $975.00 to $1,075.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Finally, Tigress Financial reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $1,065.00 target price on shares of Costco Wholesale in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nineteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Costco Wholesale presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,011.74.

Costco Wholesale Stock Down 1.7 %

The company has a quick ratio of 0.44, a current ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $941.03 and a 200-day simple moving average of $894.41. The stock has a market cap of $417.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 55.18, a PEG ratio of 6.02 and a beta of 0.82.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last posted 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 business had revenue of $79.70 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $79.91 billion. Costco Wholesale had a net margin of 2.93% and a return on equity of 33.19%. Costco Wholesale’s revenue was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $4.86 EPS. Analysts expect that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 17.83 EPS for the current year.

Costco Wholesale Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 1st were paid a $1.16 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 1st. This represents a $4.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.49%. Costco Wholesale’s payout ratio is presently 27.25%.

Insider Activity at Costco Wholesale

In other Costco Wholesale news, EVP Pierre Riel sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $896.71, for a total value of $1,793,420.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 10,210 shares in the company, valued at $9,155,409.10. This trade represents a 16.38 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Claudine Adamo sold 3,200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $888.99, for a total transaction of $2,844,768.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 8,630 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,671,983.70. The trade was a 27.05 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 11,016 shares of company stock worth $9,826,115 in the last 90 days. 0.18% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Costco Wholesale

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Tobam boosted its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 123.6% during the 2nd quarter. Tobam now owns 369 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $314,000 after acquiring an additional 204 shares in the last quarter. Heritage Family Offices LLP bought a new stake in shares of Costco Wholesale in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $202,000. IFG Advisory LLC acquired a new position in shares of Costco Wholesale in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $1,719,000. Ingalls & Snyder LLC lifted its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 3.0% during the 2nd quarter. Ingalls & Snyder LLC now owns 1,529 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,300,000 after buying an additional 44 shares during the period. Finally, Sage Mountain Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Costco Wholesale by 30.1% in the 2nd quarter. Sage Mountain Advisors LLC now owns 2,643 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $2,247,000 after buying an additional 612 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.