Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) Trading 0.1% Higher on Analyst Upgrade

Shares of Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST - Get Free Report) traded up 0.1% during trading on Tuesday after BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on the stock from $980.00 to $1,075.00. BMO Capital Markets currently has an outperform rating on the stock. Costco Wholesale traded as high as $933.50 and last traded at $920.22. 300,478 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 84% from the average session volume of 1,922,172 shares. The stock had previously closed at $919.51.

COST has been the topic of a number of other research reports. StockNews.com cut shares of Costco Wholesale from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Roth Mkm raised their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $676.00 to $755.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on Costco Wholesale from $925.00 to $935.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on Costco Wholesale from $925.00 to $927.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, August 8th. Finally, Tigress Financial reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $1,065.00 price target on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Costco Wholesale has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $908.81.

Insider Transactions at Costco Wholesale

In other news, EVP Russell D. Miller sold 4,400 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, October 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $891.15, for a total value of $3,921,060.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 10,202 shares in the company, valued at $9,091,512.30. This represents a 30.13 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Richard A. Galanti sold 1,416 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $894.68, for a total value of $1,266,866.88. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 27,400 shares in the company, valued at $24,514,232. This trade represents a 4.91 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 11,016 shares of company stock worth $9,826,115 in the last quarter. Company 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 added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Costco Wholesale by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 9,487,057 shares of the retailer's stock worth $8,380,648,000 after buying an additional 162,191 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 3.6% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 9,308,615 shares of the retailer's stock worth $8,252,274,000 after purchasing an additional 324,973 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its stake in Costco Wholesale by 113,947.9% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 7,370,916 shares of the retailer's stock valued at $6,534,464,000 after purchasing an additional 7,364,453 shares during the period. Capital World Investors raised its stake in Costco Wholesale by 8.1% during the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 3,824,778 shares of the retailer's stock valued at $2,802,147,000 after purchasing an additional 285,533 shares during the period. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc lifted its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 2.5% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 3,650,562 shares of the retailer's stock worth $3,102,941,000 after purchasing an additional 88,550 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 68.48% of the company's stock.

Costco Wholesale Stock Up 1.2 %

The firm has a market capitalization of $412.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 56.13, a P/E/G ratio of 5.60 and a beta of 0.80. The company has a current ratio of 0.97, a quick ratio of 0.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $898.80 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $862.25.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results 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. The company had revenue of $79.70 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $79.91 billion. Costco Wholesale had a net margin of 2.90% and a return on equity of 31.05%. Costco Wholesale's quarterly revenue was up 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $4.86 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 17.75 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Costco Wholesale Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Friday, November 1st were given a $1.16 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 1st. This represents a $4.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.50%. Costco Wholesale's dividend payout ratio is currently 28.00%.

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.