Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) Lowered to Hold at StockNews.com

StockNews.com cut shares of Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note issued to investors on Friday.

A number of other brokerages have also recently weighed in on COST. Gordon Haskett upgraded shares of Costco Wholesale from an accumulate rating to a buy rating and set a $925.00 target price for the company in a report on Thursday, August 8th. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $850.00 to $925.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Friday, July 12th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on Costco Wholesale from $915.00 to $925.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Friday. BMO Capital Markets restated an outperform rating and set a $980.00 price target (up from $950.00) on shares of Costco Wholesale in a report on Friday. Finally, Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $874.00 to $962.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Thursday, July 11th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $883.04.

Costco Wholesale Stock Up 0.1 %

Shares of COST stock opened at $886.52 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 stock has a market cap of $393.03 billion, a PE ratio of 54.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.47 and a beta of 0.80. The business’s fifty day moving average is $871.45 and its 200-day moving average is $818.37. Costco Wholesale has a 1 year low of $540.23 and a 1 year high of $923.83.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, September 26th. The retailer reported $5.15 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.05 by $0.10. Costco Wholesale had a net margin of 2.83% and a return on equity of 30.02%. The firm 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 business earned $4.86 earnings per share. Costco Wholesale’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect that Costco Wholesale will post 16.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Costco Wholesale Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 9th. Investors of record on Friday, July 26th were paid a dividend of $1.16 per share. This represents a $4.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.52%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, July 26th. Costco Wholesale’s payout ratio is currently 28.75%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Costco Wholesale news, Director Susan L. Decker sold 620 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $876.50, for a total transaction of $543,430.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 11,775 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,320,787.50. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 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 transaction of $543,430.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 11,775 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,320,787.50. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Daniel M. Hines sold 1,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $844.20, for a total transaction of $1,266,300.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 12,492 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,545,746.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 4,974 shares of company stock worth $4,252,856 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Costco Wholesale

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in COST. Strong Tower Advisory Services lifted its position in Costco Wholesale by 7.9% during the 1st quarter. Strong Tower Advisory Services now owns 1,867 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,346,000 after purchasing an additional 137 shares during the period. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 52.1% during the second quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. now owns 7,645 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $6,499,000 after buying an additional 2,620 shares during the last quarter. Main Street Financial Solutions LLC lifted its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 22.8% in the second quarter. Main Street Financial Solutions LLC now owns 3,533 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $3,003,000 after buying an additional 656 shares during the period. Parcion Private Wealth LLC boosted its stake in Costco Wholesale by 30.8% in the second quarter. Parcion Private Wealth LLC now owns 5,596 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $4,757,000 after acquiring an additional 1,319 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Aspiriant LLC grew its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 6.1% during the 1st quarter. Aspiriant LLC now owns 2,327 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,705,000 after acquiring an additional 134 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.