Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) Releases Quarterly Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.10 EPS

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) issued its earnings results on Thursday. The retailer reported $5.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.05 by $0.10, Briefing.com reports. Costco Wholesale had a return on equity of 30.02% and a net margin of 2.83%. The business had revenue of $79.70 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $79.91 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $4.86 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 1.0% on a year-over-year basis.

Costco Wholesale Stock Performance

NASDAQ:COST opened at $885.62 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a current ratio of 0.94. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $870.67 and its 200-day moving average is $816.15. Costco Wholesale has a 52-week low of $540.23 and a 52-week high of $923.83. The company has a market cap of $392.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 54.87, a PEG ratio of 5.57 and a beta of 0.80.

Costco Wholesale Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 9th. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 26th were issued a $1.16 dividend. This represents a $4.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.52%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, July 26th. Costco Wholesale’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 28.75%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have commented on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $800.00 to $850.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday. Truist Financial lowered Costco Wholesale from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $873.00 target price for the company. in a report on Tuesday. Citigroup upped their price target on Costco Wholesale from $710.00 to $800.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, May 31st. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on Costco Wholesale from $915.00 to $925.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, Melius Research initiated coverage on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. They issued a “hold” rating and a $950.00 price target for the company. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Costco Wholesale has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $881.19.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Susan L. Decker sold 620 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $876.50, for a total value of $543,430.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 11,775 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,320,787.50. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Costco Wholesale news, Director Susan L. Decker sold 620 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $876.50, for a total transaction of $543,430.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 11,775 shares in the company, valued at $10,320,787.50. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Daniel M. Hines sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $844.20, for a total value of $1,266,300.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 12,492 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,545,746.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 4,974 shares of company stock valued at $4,252,856 over the last three months. 0.18% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.