Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) Hits New 12-Month Low Following Analyst Downgrade

Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST)’s share price hit a new 52-week low during trading on Tuesday after Roth Capital downgraded the stock from a hold rating to a sell rating. Roth Capital now has a $769.00 price target on the stock. Costco Wholesale traded as low as $851.40 and last traded at $860.56, with a volume of 4758808 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $884.47.

Several other equities research analysts also recently issued reports on COST. Robert W. Baird cut their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $1,125.00 to $1,000.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research report on Friday. Cowen reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research report on Friday. Argus lifted their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,170.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, September 29th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,218.00 to $1,171.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday. Eighteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Costco Wholesale presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $992.70.

Insider Activity

In other Costco Wholesale news, EVP Claudine Adamo sold 2,700 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $935.68, for a total transaction of $2,526,336.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 6,851 shares in the company, valued at $6,410,343.68. The trade was a 28.27% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Russell D. Miller sold 3,381 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $915.00, for a total transaction of $3,093,615.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 9,740 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,912,100. This represents a 25.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 9,720 shares of company stock valued at $9,010,257 over the last three months. 0.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Costco Wholesale

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Peterson Wealth Services grew its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 0.5% during the 2nd quarter. Peterson Wealth Services now owns 13,616 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $13,479,000 after purchasing an additional 72 shares during the period. Fishman Jay A Ltd. MI lifted its position in Costco Wholesale by 3.5% during the second quarter. Fishman Jay A Ltd. MI now owns 16,888 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $16,718,000 after buying an additional 575 shares in the last quarter. Wealthspire Advisors LLC lifted its position in Costco Wholesale by 2.0% during the second quarter. Wealthspire Advisors LLC now owns 15,799 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $15,640,000 after buying an additional 312 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Costco Wholesale by 1.7% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 43,356,271 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $42,920,107,000 after buying an additional 711,560 shares during the period. Finally, Independent Solutions Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 0.3% in the second quarter. Independent Solutions Wealth Management LLC now owns 20,638 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $20,430,000 after acquiring an additional 53 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.48% of the company’s stock.

Costco Wholesale Stock Down 2.7%

The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $915.22 and its 200-day moving average price is $949.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a current ratio of 1.04 and a quick ratio of 0.53. The company has a market cap of $382.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.99 and a beta of 1.00.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 11th. The retailer reported $4.34 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.27 by $0.07. Costco Wholesale had a net margin of 2.96% and a return on equity of 29.35%. The firm had revenue of $67.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $67.03 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $4.04 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 8.3% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Costco Wholesale Corporation will post 18.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Costco Wholesale Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 31st were paid a $1.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 31st. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.6%. Costco Wholesale’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 27.85%.

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.