Bank of America Increases Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) Price Target to $962.00

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) had its target price hoisted by Bank of America from $874.00 to $962.00 in a research note released on Thursday morning, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a buy rating on the retailer’s stock.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports on COST. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $710.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a report on Friday, May 31st. Telsey Advisory Group restated an outperform rating and set a $900.00 price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research report on Monday, July 8th. BMO Capital Markets restated an outperform rating and set a $875.00 price objective (up from $800.00) on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research report on Friday, May 31st. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $860.00 to $890.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research report on Thursday, June 20th. Finally, Tigress Financial raised their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $870.00 to $975.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 25th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-one have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Costco Wholesale presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $799.33.

Costco Wholesale Trading Down 0.4 %

NASDAQ:COST opened at $842.90 on Thursday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $829.88 and its 200-day moving average price is $754.71. Costco Wholesale has a 52 week low of $530.56 and a 52 week high of $896.67. The company has a quick ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. The stock has a market cap of $373.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 52.22, a PEG ratio of 5.67 and a beta of 0.78.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 30th. The retailer reported $3.78 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.70 by $0.08. Costco Wholesale had a net margin of 2.83% and a return on equity of 30.02%. The firm had revenue of $58.52 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $58.16 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $3.43 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Costco Wholesale will post 15.97 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Costco Wholesale Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 9th. Investors of record on Friday, July 26th will be paid a dividend of $1.16 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, July 26th. This represents a $4.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.55%. Costco Wholesale’s dividend payout ratio is presently 28.75%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Russell D. Miller sold 785 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $722.86, for a total transaction of $567,445.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 10,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,228,600. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.18% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Costco Wholesale

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Sunburst Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Costco Wholesale during the 2nd quarter worth about $218,000. Mirador Capital Partners LP boosted its position in Costco Wholesale by 0.7% in the 2nd quarter. Mirador Capital Partners LP now owns 4,464 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $3,794,000 after buying an additional 33 shares during the period. Retirement Planning Group LLC boosted its position in Costco Wholesale by 4.4% in the 2nd quarter. Retirement Planning Group LLC now owns 33,291 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $28,297,000 after buying an additional 1,416 shares during the period. Inspirion Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in Costco Wholesale by 6.8% in the 2nd quarter. Inspirion Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 722 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $614,000 after buying an additional 46 shares during the period. Finally, Cornerstone Wealth Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in Costco Wholesale in the 2nd quarter valued at about $289,000. 68.48% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.