Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST – Get Free Report) EVP Caton Frates sold 1,200 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, October 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $562.64, for a total transaction of $675,168.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 8,363 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,705,358.32. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website.
Costco Wholesale Trading Up 0.6 %
NASDAQ:COST traded up $3.43 on Wednesday, hitting $565.52. 1,449,588 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,815,701. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $554.76 and a 200-day moving average of $529.32. The stock has a market cap of $250.58 billion, a PE ratio of 39.69, a PEG ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.77. The company has a current ratio of 1.07, a quick ratio of 0.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. Costco Wholesale Co. has a fifty-two week low of $447.90 and a fifty-two week high of $576.19.
Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST – Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, September 26th. The retailer reported $4.86 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.79 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $78.94 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $77.72 billion. Costco Wholesale had a net margin of 2.60% and a return on equity of 28.10%. The company’s revenue was up 9.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $4.20 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 15.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
Costco Wholesale Dividend Announcement
The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 8th. Investors of record on Friday, August 25th were issued a dividend of $1.02 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 24th. This represents a $4.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.72%. Costco Wholesale’s payout ratio is 28.81%.
Analyst Ratings Changes
A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on COST shares. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Costco Wholesale from $535.00 to $585.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 27th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on Costco Wholesale from $651.00 to $652.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 27th. VNET Group reiterated a “reiterates” rating on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research report on Thursday, June 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $571.00 to $620.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 5th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $600.00 to $612.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 27th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-one have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $586.25.
Institutional Trading of Costco Wholesale
Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 2.4% during the third quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 8,533 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $4,821,000 after purchasing an additional 198 shares in the last quarter. First Financial Corp IN raised its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 242.7% during the 3rd quarter. First Financial Corp IN now owns 1,172 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $662,000 after buying an additional 830 shares during the period. Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. lifted its position in Costco Wholesale by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter. Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. now owns 1,349 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $762,000 after acquiring an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. Grassi Investment Management boosted its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 3.2% in the 3rd quarter. Grassi Investment Management now owns 4,790 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $2,706,000 after acquiring an additional 150 shares during the period. Finally, Donaldson Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter. Donaldson Capital Management LLC now owns 106,133 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $59,961,000 after acquiring an additional 1,876 shares during the period. 66.31% of the stock is currently 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, the United Kingdom, Mexico, Japan, Korea, Australia, Spain, France, Iceland, China, and Taiwan. It offers branded and private-label products in a range of merchandise categories.