Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) Stock Price Down 0.5% – Here’s What Happened

Shares of Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) fell 0.5% during trading on Wednesday . The company traded as low as $930.02 and last traded at $925.39. 629,764 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 65% from the average session volume of 1,811,344 shares. The stock had previously closed at $930.49.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently commented on COST. Evercore ISI upped their price target on Costco Wholesale from $1,050.00 to $1,070.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on Costco Wholesale from $1,075.00 to $1,125.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $1,000.00 to $1,075.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $935.00 to $995.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $840.00 to $1,040.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-one have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,030.43.

Costco Wholesale Trading Down 0.3 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a current ratio of 0.98. The company has a market cap of $394.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 51.84, a P/E/G ratio of 6.15 and a beta of 0.81. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $990.05 and a 200 day moving average price of $944.14.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 6th. The retailer reported $4.02 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $4.09 by ($0.07). The firm had revenue of $63.72 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $63.02 billion. Costco Wholesale had a return on equity of 32.31% and a net margin of 2.93%. As a group, equities analysts predict that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 18.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Costco Wholesale Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 21st. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 7th were given a dividend of $1.16 per share. This represents a $4.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.52%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 7th. Costco Wholesale’s payout ratio is 27.09%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Roland Michael Vachris sold 3,600 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $931.00, for a total value of $3,351,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 41,077 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $38,242,687. The trade was a 8.06 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of COST. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Costco Wholesale in the fourth quarter valued at about $5,182,316,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC raised its stake in Costco Wholesale by 74,796.3% in the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,521,893 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,394,465,000 after purchasing an additional 1,519,861 shares in the last quarter. Leigh Baldwin & CO. LLC acquired a new position in Costco Wholesale in the fourth quarter valued at about $95,452,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC raised its stake in Costco Wholesale by 100,422.3% in the fourth quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 796,137 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $729,476,000 after purchasing an additional 795,345 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its position in Costco Wholesale by 12.6% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 5,257,809 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $4,817,573,000 after acquiring an additional 587,303 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.