Telsey Advisory Group Reaffirms "Outperform" Rating for Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST)

Telsey Advisory Group reaffirmed their outperform rating on shares of Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST - Free Report) in a research note issued to investors on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $1,100.00 price target on the retailer's stock.

A number of other brokerages have also recently weighed in on COST. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on Costco Wholesale from $1,075.00 to $1,175.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Loop Capital dropped their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,150.00 to $1,045.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Evercore ISI upped their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,050.00 to $1,070.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. 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 research note on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Barclays upped their target price on Costco Wholesale from $940.00 to $980.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Monday, March 10th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-one have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $1,024.03.

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Costco Wholesale Price Performance

Shares of COST traded up $10.55 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $973.96. The company had a trading volume of 1,026,469 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,001,825. The company has a market capitalization of $432.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 57.19, a PEG ratio of 6.15 and a beta of 0.95. Costco Wholesale has a 12-month low of $702.00 and a 12-month high of $1,078.24. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $982.89 and a 200-day simple moving average of $949.81. The company has a current ratio of 0.98, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23.

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

Costco Wholesale Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 21st. Investors of record on Friday, February 7th were issued a $1.16 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 7th. This represents a $4.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.48%. 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 that occurred on Tuesday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $931.00, for a total transaction of $3,351,600.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 41,077 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $38,242,687. The trade was a 8.06 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Claudine Adamo sold 900 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $922.56, for a total transaction of $830,304.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 6,987 shares of the company's stock, valued at $6,445,926.72. This trade represents a 11.41 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 5,600 shares of company stock worth $5,215,915 over the last ninety days. 0.18% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Costco Wholesale

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. CHURCHILL MANAGEMENT Corp acquired a new stake in Costco Wholesale during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $8,430,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 15.0% during the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 7,662 shares of the retailer's stock valued at $7,020,000 after buying an additional 1,001 shares during the last quarter. Dale Q Rice Investment Management Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Costco Wholesale during the fourth quarter worth approximately $984,000. Stanich Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Costco Wholesale in the fourth quarter worth $214,000. Finally, Everence Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 15.4% in the fourth quarter. Everence Capital Management Inc. now owns 11,913 shares of the retailer's stock valued at $10,916,000 after acquiring an additional 1,590 shares in the last quarter. 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.