Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) Price Target Raised to $1,000.00

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) had its price target hoisted by investment analysts at Wells Fargo & Company from $950.00 to $1,000.00 in a report issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an “equal weight” rating on the retailer’s stock. Wells Fargo & Company‘s price target points to a potential upside of 1.08% from the company’s current price.

COST has been the subject of several other research reports. Loop Capital raised their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,005.00 to $1,095.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Barclays increased their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $850.00 to $940.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday. TD Cowen boosted their target price on Costco Wholesale from $975.00 to $1,090.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. Evercore ISI increased their price target on Costco Wholesale from $1,019.00 to $1,020.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Redburn Atlantic cut Costco Wholesale from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $860.00 to $890.00 in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nineteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $988.46.

Costco Wholesale Price Performance

COST opened at $989.35 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $926.84 and its 200 day moving average price is $885.20. Costco Wholesale has a 12-month low of $630.30 and a 12-month high of $1,007.80. The firm has a market cap of $438.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 58.09, a PEG ratio of 6.05 and a beta of 0.82. The company has a current ratio of 0.97, a quick ratio of 0.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, September 26th. The retailer reported $5.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.05 by $0.10. Costco Wholesale had a net margin of 2.90% and a return on equity of 31.05%. The business had revenue of $79.70 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $79.91 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $4.86 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Costco Wholesale will post 17.77 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, 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 value of $2,844,768.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 8,630 shares in the company, valued at $7,671,983.70. The trade was a 27.05 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Richard A. Galanti sold 1,416 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $894.68, for a total value of $1,266,866.88. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 27,400 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $24,514,232. This represents a 4.91 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 11,016 shares of company stock valued at $9,826,115 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of COST. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC purchased a new position in Costco Wholesale in the 3rd quarter valued at $29,000. Financial Connections Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 557.1% in the 2nd quarter. Financial Connections Group Inc. now owns 46 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $39,000 after acquiring an additional 39 shares during the period. Summit Securities Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Costco Wholesale in the second quarter valued at about $50,000. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Costco Wholesale in the third quarter valued at about $58,000. Finally, Fairway Wealth LLC increased its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 230.0% during the second quarter. Fairway Wealth LLC now owns 66 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $56,000 after acquiring an additional 46 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.