Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) Shares Up 0.8% – Here’s Why

Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)’s share price shot up 0.8% during mid-day trading on Friday . The company traded as high as $899.81 and last traded at $902.36. 984,594 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 46% from the average session volume of 1,815,138 shares. The stock had previously closed at $895.40.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently issued reports on COST. Truist Financial boosted their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $935.00 to $995.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, March 7th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,075.00 to $1,175.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and set a $1,075.00 price objective (up previously from $980.00) on shares of Costco Wholesale in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Telsey Advisory Group restated an “outperform” rating and set a $1,100.00 price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale in a report on Monday, March 3rd. Finally, Roth Mkm upped their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $755.00 to $907.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-one have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Costco Wholesale has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,029.00.

Costco Wholesale Price Performance

The business’s 50 day moving average is $987.55 and its two-hundred day moving average is $945.06. The firm has a market capitalization of $403.42 billion, a PE ratio of 53.39, a P/E/G ratio of 6.15 and a beta of 0.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a current ratio of 0.98 and a quick ratio of 0.43.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, March 6th. The retailer reported $4.02 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.09 by ($0.07). The company had revenue of $63.72 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $63.02 billion. Costco Wholesale had a net margin of 2.93% and a return on equity of 32.31%. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 18.03 EPS for the current year.

Costco Wholesale Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 21st. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 7th were paid a dividend of $1.16 per share. This represents a $4.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.51%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 7th. Costco Wholesale’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 27.09%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Costco Wholesale news, CEO Roland Michael Vachris sold 3,600 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $931.00, for a total transaction of $3,351,600.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 41,077 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $38,242,687. This trade represents a 8.06 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Investment Management Corp VA ADV bought a new position in shares of Costco Wholesale in the fourth quarter worth approximately $25,000. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC bought a new position in shares of Costco Wholesale in the third quarter worth approximately $29,000. Synergy Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Costco Wholesale in the fourth quarter worth approximately $31,000. NewSquare Capital LLC grew its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 250.0% in the fourth quarter. NewSquare Capital LLC now owns 35 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Endeavor Private Wealth Inc. bought a new position in shares of Costco Wholesale in the fourth quarter worth approximately $33,000. 68.48% of the stock is 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.