Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) Stock Price Down 0.2%

Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) shares dropped 0.2% on Thursday . The company traded as low as $729.42 and last traded at $730.54. Approximately 253,328 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 88% from the average daily volume of 2,134,629 shares. The stock had previously closed at $732.08.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently commented on COST. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $665.00 to $749.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 8th. Loop Capital upped their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $710.00 to $755.00 in a report on Friday, January 19th. Telsey Advisory Group increased their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $750.00 to $785.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, March 4th. Northcoast Research downgraded shares of Costco Wholesale from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $620.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Wednesday, December 20th. Finally, Oppenheimer upped their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $760.00 to $805.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 5th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen 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 $668.50.

Costco Wholesale Stock Up 0.1 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a current ratio of 0.93. The company has a market cap of $324.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 47.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.07 and a beta of 0.77. The business’s fifty day moving average is $724.29 and its two-hundred day moving average is $642.61.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 7th. The retailer reported $3.71 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.62 by $0.09. Costco Wholesale had a net margin of 2.73% and a return on equity of 28.80%. The business had revenue of $58.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $59.11 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $3.30 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 15.78 EPS for the current year.

Costco Wholesale Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 2nd were issued a $1.02 dividend. This represents a $4.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.56%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 1st. Costco Wholesale’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 26.68%.

Insider Activity at Costco Wholesale

In other news, Director Susan L. Decker sold 1,442 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $723.48, for a total transaction of $1,043,258.16. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 12,395 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,967,534.60. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other Costco Wholesale news, EVP Caton Frates sold 740 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $683.50, for a total transaction of $505,790.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 6,721 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,593,803.50. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Susan L. Decker sold 1,442 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $723.48, for a total transaction of $1,043,258.16. Following the transaction, the director now owns 12,395 shares in the company, valued at $8,967,534.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 15,582 shares of company stock worth $10,736,778 in the last three months. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Costco Wholesale

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 40,360,168 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $26,640,940,000 after buying an additional 485,051 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its position in Costco Wholesale by 1.8% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 19,108,655 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $10,287,718,000 after acquiring an additional 333,308 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley grew its position in Costco Wholesale by 18.0% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 8,634,627 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $3,941,708,000 after acquiring an additional 1,315,174 shares in the last quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC grew its position in Costco Wholesale by 118,320.2% in the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 7,396,524 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $3,376,513,000 after acquiring an additional 7,390,278 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Costco Wholesale during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $3,628,694,000. 68.48% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other 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.