Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) Trading Down 0.5% - Here's What Happened

Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST - Get Free Report)'s stock price 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 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

Several research firms recently issued reports on COST. DA Davidson upped their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $900.00 to $1,000.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $940.00 to $980.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Monday. Telsey Advisory Group reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $1,100.00 target price on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Costco Wholesale from $1,065.00 to $1,070.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, March 7th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein restated an "outperform" rating on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-one have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $1,030.43.

Costco Wholesale Stock Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $413.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 54.58, a PEG ratio of 6.15 and a beta of 0.81. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $990.22 and its 200 day simple moving average is $944.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a current ratio of 0.98.

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Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, March 6th. The retailer reported $4.02 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $4.09 by ($0.07). Costco Wholesale had a return on equity of 32.31% and a net margin of 2.93%. The company had revenue of $63.72 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $63.02 billion. Sell-side analysts forecast that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 18.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Costco Wholesale Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 21st. Investors of record on Friday, February 7th were given a dividend of $1.16 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 7th. This represents a $4.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.50%. Costco Wholesale's dividend payout ratio is presently 27.09%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of COST. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in Costco Wholesale by 1.2% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,808,255 shares of the retailer's stock worth $2,489,574,000 after purchasing an additional 32,074 shares in the last quarter. Nwam LLC purchased a new position in shares of Costco Wholesale during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $20,056,000. CHURCHILL MANAGEMENT Corp acquired a new stake in Costco Wholesale in the 4th quarter valued at $8,430,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in Costco Wholesale by 15.0% in the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 7,662 shares of the retailer's stock valued at $7,020,000 after acquiring an additional 1,001 shares during the period. Finally, Dale Q Rice Investment Management Ltd purchased a new stake in Costco Wholesale in the 4th quarter worth $984,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.

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