Zacks Research Cuts Earnings Estimates for Costco Wholesale

Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST - Free Report) - Stock analysts at Zacks Research cut their Q3 2025 EPS estimates for shares of Costco Wholesale in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday, March 26th. Zacks Research analyst S. Singh now anticipates that the retailer will earn $4.22 per share for the quarter, down from their prior estimate of $4.25. The consensus estimate for Costco Wholesale's current full-year earnings is $18.03 per share. Zacks Research also issued estimates for Costco Wholesale's Q4 2025 earnings at $5.88 EPS, FY2025 earnings at $17.94 EPS, Q4 2026 earnings at $6.40 EPS and Q2 2027 earnings at $4.83 EPS.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly 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). The firm had revenue of $63.72 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $63.02 billion. Costco Wholesale had a net margin of 2.93% and a return on equity of 32.31%.

Other equities research analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. Stifel Nicolaus cut their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,075.00 to $1,035.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,075.00 to $1,175.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on Costco Wholesale from $1,075.00 to $1,125.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of Costco Wholesale in a report on Friday, March 7th. Finally, Citigroup raised their price target on Costco Wholesale from $800.00 to $1,060.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-one have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Costco Wholesale presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $1,029.00.

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Costco Wholesale Trading Up 1.4 %

Shares of COST stock traded up $13.42 on Monday, hitting $978.50. 1,845,888 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,944,918. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a current ratio of 0.98. Costco Wholesale has a one year low of $697.27 and a one year high of $1,078.24. The stock has a market capitalization of $434.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 57.46, a P/E/G ratio of 6.15 and a beta of 0.82. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $988.67 and its 200 day simple moving average is $947.48.

Institutional Trading of Costco Wholesale

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of COST. CHURCHILL MANAGEMENT Corp bought a new stake in shares of Costco Wholesale during the fourth quarter worth $8,430,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in Costco Wholesale by 15.0% in the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 7,662 shares of the retailer's stock valued at $7,020,000 after purchasing an additional 1,001 shares in the last quarter. Dale Q Rice Investment Management Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Costco Wholesale during the 4th quarter worth approximately $984,000. Stanich Group LLC acquired a new stake in Costco Wholesale in the 4th quarter valued at about $214,000. Finally, Everence Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in Costco Wholesale by 15.4% in the 4th 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 during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.48% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Claudine Adamo sold 900 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 6,987 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $6,445,926.72. This trade represents a 11.41 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Roland Michael Vachris sold 3,600 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 11th. The shares were 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 $38,242,687. This represents a 8.06 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 5,600 shares of company stock valued at $5,215,915 over the last ninety days. 0.18% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Costco Wholesale Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 21st. Investors of record on Friday, February 7th were paid a $1.16 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 7th. This represents a $4.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.47%. Costco Wholesale's payout ratio is 27.09%.

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.