What is DA Davidson's Forecast for COST FY2025 Earnings?

Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST - Free Report) - Investment analysts at DA Davidson lifted their FY2025 earnings per share (EPS) estimates for shares of Costco Wholesale in a note issued to investors on Friday, December 13th. DA Davidson analyst M. Baker now expects that the retailer will post earnings of $18.31 per share for the year, up from their previous forecast of $17.80. DA Davidson has a "Neutral" rating and a $900.00 price target on the stock. The consensus estimate for Costco Wholesale's current full-year earnings is $17.83 per share. DA Davidson also issued estimates for Costco Wholesale's FY2026 earnings at $19.43 EPS.

COST has been the topic of several other research reports. Tigress Financial reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $1,065.00 target price on shares of Costco Wholesale in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Oppenheimer reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $1,075.00 target price (up previously from $980.00) on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Truist Financial upped their price target on Costco Wholesale from $909.00 to $935.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Friday. Raymond James raised their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $990.00 to $1,030.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $950.00 to $1,150.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nineteen have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $988.46.

Costco Wholesale Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of COST traded up $3.52 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $992.87. The stock had a trading volume of 2,577,933 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,931,761. The company has a market cap of $439.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 58.30, a PEG ratio of 6.02 and a beta of 0.82. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $929.23 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $887.00. Costco Wholesale has a 1-year low of $640.51 and a 1-year high of $1,008.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a current ratio of 0.97 and a quick ratio of 0.44.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, September 26th. The retailer reported $5.15 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $5.05 by $0.10. Costco Wholesale had a net margin of 2.93% and a return on equity of 33.19%. The firm had revenue of $79.70 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $79.91 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $4.86 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year.

Costco Wholesale Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Friday, November 1st were issued a dividend of $1.16 per share. This represents a $4.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.47%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 1st. Costco Wholesale's dividend payout ratio is presently 27.25%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Claudine Adamo sold 3,200 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, September 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $888.99, for a total value of $2,844,768.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 8,630 shares in the company, valued at $7,671,983.70. This trade represents a 27.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Russell D. Miller sold 4,400 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $891.15, for a total transaction of $3,921,060.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 10,202 shares in the company, valued at $9,091,512.30. This represents a 30.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 11,016 shares of company stock worth $9,826,115. 0.18% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Costco Wholesale

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Geode Capital Management LLC raised 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 valued at $8,380,648,000 after purchasing an additional 162,191 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 3.6% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 9,308,615 shares of the retailer's stock valued at $8,252,274,000 after buying an additional 324,973 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 113,947.9% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 7,370,916 shares of the retailer's stock valued at $6,534,464,000 after buying an additional 7,364,453 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc boosted its position in Costco Wholesale by 2.5% during the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 3,650,562 shares of the retailer's stock worth $3,102,941,000 after acquiring an additional 88,550 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC grew its stake in Costco Wholesale by 3.8% in the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 3,399,127 shares of the retailer's stock worth $3,013,394,000 after acquiring an additional 125,444 shares during the period. 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.