Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) Downgraded by StockNews.com

StockNews.com cut shares of Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report sent to investors on Friday.

COST has been the topic of several other research reports. Roth Mkm upped their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $601.00 to $650.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Truist Financial upped their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $693.00 to $741.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Thursday, December 21st. Tigress Financial increased their target price on Costco Wholesale from $745.00 to $870.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Friday, March 15th. Citigroup increased their target price on Costco Wholesale from $585.00 to $630.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research report on Friday, December 15th. Finally, Gordon Haskett downgraded Costco Wholesale from a buy rating to an accumulate rating and set a $775.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Costco Wholesale presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $691.28.

Costco Wholesale Price Performance

Costco Wholesale stock opened at $718.28 on Friday. Costco Wholesale has a 12 month low of $476.75 and a 12 month high of $787.08. The company has a current ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $730.82 and its 200 day simple moving average is $657.77. The company has a market cap of $318.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.98, a PEG ratio of 4.87 and a beta of 0.77.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 7th. The retailer reported $3.71 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.62 by $0.09. Costco Wholesale had a return on equity of 28.80% and a net margin of 2.73%. The business had revenue of $58.44 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $59.11 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $3.30 earnings per share. Costco Wholesale’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Costco Wholesale will post 15.84 EPS for the current year.

Costco Wholesale Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 26th will be issued a dividend of $1.16 per share. This is a positive change from Costco Wholesale’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.02. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 25th. This represents a $4.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.65%. Costco Wholesale’s payout ratio is presently 26.68%.

Insider Transactions at Costco Wholesale

In other Costco Wholesale news, Director W Craig Jelinek sold 8,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $685.93, for a total value of $5,487,440.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 216,212 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $148,306,297.16. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other Costco Wholesale news, VP Yoram Rubanenko sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $680.33, for a total value of $1,700,825.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 5,910 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,020,750.30. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director W Craig Jelinek sold 8,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $685.93, for a total value of $5,487,440.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 216,212 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $148,306,297.16. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 13,442 shares of company stock valued at $9,303,768. 0.18% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Costco Wholesale

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of COST. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in Costco Wholesale by 118,320.2% in the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 7,396,524 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $3,376,513,000 after purchasing an additional 7,390,278 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Costco Wholesale in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $3,628,694,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its position in Costco Wholesale by 61,693.5% in the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 3,105,124 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $2,049,630,000 after purchasing an additional 3,100,099 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley lifted its position in Costco Wholesale by 18.0% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 8,634,627 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $3,941,708,000 after purchasing an additional 1,315,174 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC lifted its position in Costco Wholesale by 172.6% in the second quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,357,548 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $730,877,000 after purchasing an additional 859,599 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors 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.