Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) Price Target Increased to $935.00 by Analysts at Stifel Nicolaus

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) had its price target raised by Stifel Nicolaus from $925.00 to $935.00 in a report published on Thursday morning, Benzinga reports. Stifel Nicolaus currently has a buy rating on the retailer’s stock.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on COST. Barclays increased their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $830.00 to $850.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Truist Financial cut Costco Wholesale from a buy rating to a hold rating and set a $873.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. Melius Research assumed coverage on Costco Wholesale in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. They issued a hold rating and a $950.00 target price for the company. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Costco Wholesale from $855.00 to $950.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research report on Monday, September 9th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an outperform rating and issued a $980.00 target price (up from $950.00) on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $886.74.

Costco Wholesale Stock Performance

COST stock traded down $4.57 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $889.06. 191,867 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,949,702. Costco Wholesale has a twelve month low of $540.23 and a twelve month high of $923.83. The company has a quick ratio of 0.44, a current ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $881.46 and a 200-day simple moving average of $825.57. The stock has a market capitalization of $394.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 53.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.53 and a beta of 0.80.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, September 26th. The retailer reported $5.15 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.05 by $0.10. Costco Wholesale had a return on equity of 31.05% and a net margin of 2.90%. The company had revenue of $79.70 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $79.91 billion. During the same period in the prior 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. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Costco Wholesale will post 17.73 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Kenneth D. Denman sold 350 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $851.53, for a total value of $298,035.50. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 5,920 shares in the company, valued at $5,041,057.60. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, EVP Claudine Adamo sold 3,200 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $888.99, for a total transaction of $2,844,768.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 8,630 shares in the company, valued at $7,671,983.70. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Kenneth D. Denman sold 350 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $851.53, for a total value of $298,035.50. Following the transaction, the director now owns 5,920 shares in the company, valued at $5,041,057.60. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 6,674 shares of company stock worth $5,831,324 over the last three months. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Costco Wholesale

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of COST. Biltmore Family Office LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 8.4% during the 4th quarter. Biltmore Family Office LLC now owns 786 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $531,000 after purchasing an additional 61 shares in the last quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 24.0% during the 4th quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 630,275 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $416,032,000 after purchasing an additional 122,053 shares in the last quarter. Buckingham Strategic Wealth LLC lifted its stake in Costco Wholesale by 2.9% in the 4th quarter. Buckingham Strategic Wealth LLC now owns 18,481 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $12,199,000 after acquiring an additional 513 shares in the last quarter. Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT lifted its stake in Costco Wholesale by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT now owns 158,156 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $104,396,000 after acquiring an additional 580 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund lifted its stake in Costco Wholesale by 38.5% in the 4th quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 352,961 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $232,982,000 after acquiring an additional 98,184 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 68.48% of the company’s stock.

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.