Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST – Get Rating) will announce its earnings results after the market closes on Thursday, March 2nd. Analysts expect the company to announce earnings of $3.20 per share for the quarter. Investors interested in participating in the company’s conference call can do so using this link.
Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST – Get Rating) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, December 8th. The retailer reported $3.10 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $3.14 by ($0.04). The company had revenue of $54.44 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $54.67 billion. Costco Wholesale had a return on equity of 28.83% and a net margin of 2.55%. On average, analysts expect Costco Wholesale to post $14 EPS for the current fiscal year and $16 EPS for the next fiscal year.
Costco Wholesale Price Performance
Costco Wholesale stock opened at $497.39 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 1.03 and a quick ratio of 0.47. The company has a market capitalization of $220.71 billion, a PE ratio of 37.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.72 and a beta of 0.79. Costco Wholesale has a one year low of $406.51 and a one year high of $612.27. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $484.97 and a 200 day simple moving average of $499.06.
Costco Wholesale Dividend Announcement
The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 17th. Investors of record on Friday, February 3rd were given a dividend of $0.90 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 2nd. This represents a $3.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.72%. Costco Wholesale’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 27.21%.
Insider Transactions at Costco Wholesale
In other news, EVP James C. Klauer sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $503.69, for a total transaction of $1,259,225.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 40,884 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,592,861.96. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, EVP James C. Klauer sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $503.69, for a total transaction of $1,259,225.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 40,884 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,592,861.96. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Susan L. Decker sold 952 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $483.00, for a total value of $459,816.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 18,920 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,138,360. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.22% of the stock is owned by insiders.
Institutional Trading of Costco Wholesale
Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of COST. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 118,320.2% during the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 7,396,524 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $3,376,513,000 after acquiring an additional 7,390,278 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Costco Wholesale during the fourth quarter worth about $2,328,844,000. Morgan Stanley raised its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 18.0% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 8,634,627 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $3,941,708,000 after acquiring an additional 1,315,174 shares in the last quarter. CI Private Wealth LLC bought a new stake in Costco Wholesale during the fourth quarter worth about $245,698,000. Finally, Cerity Partners LLC raised its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 277.2% during the fourth quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 217,908 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $100,990,000 after acquiring an additional 160,140 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 66.03% of the company’s stock.
Analysts Set New Price Targets
COST has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $581.00 to $578.00 in a research report on Tuesday, November 29th. Bank of America dropped their target price on Costco Wholesale from $605.00 to $600.00 in a research report on Thursday, December 1st. UBS Group boosted their target price on Costco Wholesale from $565.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 6th. Loop Capital boosted their target price on Costco Wholesale from $545.00 to $575.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 2nd. Finally, Telsey Advisory Group dropped their target price on Costco Wholesale from $590.00 to $580.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, December 9th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $554.46.
About Costco Wholesale
Costco Wholesale Corp. engages in the operation of membership warehouses through wholly owned subsidiaries. It operates through the following geographical segments: United States, Canada, and Other International Operations. The company was founded by James D. Sinegal and Jeffrey H. Brotman in 1983 and is headquartered in Issaquah, WA.