Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) Trading Up 0.8% – Time to Buy?

Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)’s share price traded up 0.8% on Monday . The company traded as high as $924.13 and last traded at $923.68. 536,226 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 58% from the average session volume of 1,275,513 shares. The stock had previously closed at $916.58.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

COST has been the topic of several research reports. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,019.00 to $1,020.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Redburn Atlantic lowered Costco Wholesale from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $860.00 to $890.00 in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $876.00 to $995.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. DA Davidson boosted their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $880.00 to $900.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Costco Wholesale from $950.00 to $1,000.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nineteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,013.59.

Costco Wholesale Stock Up 0.7 %

The stock has a market cap of $411.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 54.46, a PEG ratio of 6.02 and a beta of 0.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a quick ratio of 0.44 and a current ratio of 0.97. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $944.70 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $897.58.

Costco Wholesale Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 1st were issued a dividend of $1.16 per share. This represents a $4.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.50%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 1st. Costco Wholesale’s dividend payout ratio is 27.25%.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Richard A. Galanti sold 1,416 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $894.68, for a total transaction of $1,266,866.88. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 27,400 shares in the company, valued at $24,514,232. The trade was a 4.91 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Russell D. Miller sold 4,400 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $891.15, for a total transaction of $3,921,060.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 10,202 shares in the company, valued at $9,091,512.30. This represents a 30.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 7,816 shares of company stock valued at $6,981,347. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Costco Wholesale

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in COST. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Costco Wholesale by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 9,487,057 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $8,380,648,000 after acquiring an additional 162,191 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 3.6% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 9,308,615 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $8,252,274,000 after purchasing an additional 324,973 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 113,947.9% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 7,370,916 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $6,534,464,000 after buying an additional 7,364,453 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc increased its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 2.5% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 3,650,562 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $3,102,941,000 after buying an additional 88,550 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC raised its stake in Costco Wholesale by 3.8% during the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 3,399,127 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $3,013,394,000 after buying an additional 125,444 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 68.48% of the company’s stock.

Costco Wholesale Company Profile

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.