Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) Downgraded by Gordon Haskett to “Accumulate”

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) was downgraded by research analysts at Gordon Haskett from a “buy” rating to an “accumulate” rating in a research report issued on Wednesday, MarketBeat.com reports. They currently have a $775.00 price target on the retailer’s stock. Gordon Haskett’s price objective indicates a potential upside of 8.96% from the company’s current price.

A number of other analysts have also commented on COST. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $640.00 to $725.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 15th. Raymond James boosted their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $580.00 to $670.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 15th. DA Davidson lifted their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $570.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, December 15th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $665.00 to $749.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 8th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on Costco Wholesale from $615.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 15th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $672.76.

Costco Wholesale Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ COST opened at $711.30 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $315.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 46.52, a PEG ratio of 4.99 and a beta of 0.77. Costco Wholesale has a twelve month low of $476.75 and a twelve month high of $787.08. The company has a quick ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28. The company has a 50 day moving average of $726.52 and a 200 day moving average of $646.75.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 7th. The retailer reported $3.71 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 firm had revenue of $58.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $59.11 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $3.30 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Costco Wholesale will post 15.81 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Costco Wholesale

In other news, VP Yoram Rubanenko sold 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $680.33, for a total value of $1,700,825.00. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 5,910 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,020,750.30. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In related news, EVP Claudine Adamo sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $714.83, for a total transaction of $1,072,245.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 6,695 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,785,786.85. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, VP Yoram Rubanenko sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 15,582 shares of company stock valued at $10,736,778 over the last 90 days. 0.18% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Costco Wholesale

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. United Bank grew its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 9.2% during the first quarter. United Bank now owns 5,254 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $3,026,000 after buying an additional 444 shares during the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. grew its position in Costco Wholesale by 33.6% in the 1st quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 383,691 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $220,948,000 after acquiring an additional 96,566 shares during the last quarter. Covestor Ltd increased its stake in Costco Wholesale by 87.1% in the first quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 232 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $134,000 after purchasing an additional 108 shares during the period. Bridgefront Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Costco Wholesale during the first quarter worth $333,000. Finally, Next Century Growth Investors LLC increased its stake in Costco Wholesale by 0.9% in the 1st quarter. Next Century Growth Investors LLC now owns 3,414 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,965,000 after buying an additional 30 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other 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.