TD Cowen Increases Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) Price Target to $975.00

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) had its target price raised by stock analysts at TD Cowen from $925.00 to $975.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Monday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a “buy” rating on the retailer’s stock. TD Cowen’s price objective indicates a potential upside of 11.13% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on the company. Telsey Advisory Group boosted their price target on Costco Wholesale from $925.00 to $1,000.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. DA Davidson upped their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $780.00 to $880.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $915.00 to $925.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, September 6th. Gordon Haskett upgraded Costco Wholesale from an “accumulate” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $925.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. Finally, Melius Research started coverage on Costco Wholesale in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. They set a “hold” rating and a $950.00 price objective for the company. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Costco Wholesale presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $883.04.

Costco Wholesale Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ COST opened at $877.38 on Monday. Costco Wholesale has a twelve month low of $540.23 and a twelve month high of $923.83. The company has a current ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. The company has a market capitalization of $388.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 54.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.47 and a beta of 0.80. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $871.96 and a 200-day simple moving average of $819.44.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, September 26th. The retailer reported $5.15 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.05 by $0.10. 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $79.91 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $4.86 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Costco Wholesale will post 16.02 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Kenneth D. Denman sold 350 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $851.53, for a total transaction of $298,035.50. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 5,920 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,041,057.60. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other Costco Wholesale news, 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 value of $1,266,300.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 12,492 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,545,746.40. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Kenneth D. Denman sold 350 shares of the company’s 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 transaction, the director now directly owns 5,920 shares in the company, valued at $5,041,057.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 4,974 shares of company stock valued at $4,252,856 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of COST. Gilbert & Cook Inc. increased its position in Costco Wholesale by 57.3% in the 4th quarter. Gilbert & Cook Inc. now owns 626 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $413,000 after purchasing an additional 228 shares during the last quarter. J. W. Coons Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. J. W. Coons Advisors LLC now owns 3,802 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $2,510,000 after acquiring an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp increased its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 4.5% during the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 9,915 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $6,544,000 after acquiring an additional 426 shares during the last quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 6.4% during the 4th quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC now owns 52,134 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $34,413,000 after acquiring an additional 3,148 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Carmignac Gestion increased its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 175.5% during the 4th quarter. Carmignac Gestion now owns 11,750 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $7,760,000 after acquiring an additional 7,485 shares during the last quarter. 68.48% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.