Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) Price Target Cut to $820.00 by Analysts at Loop Capital

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) had its target price cut by Loop Capital from $830.00 to $820.00 in a research note released on Thursday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have a buy rating on the retailer’s stock.

Several other research firms also recently commented on COST. Telsey Advisory Group reaffirmed an outperform rating and issued a $800.00 target price on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research report on Thursday. Roth Mkm upped their target price on Costco Wholesale from $601.00 to $650.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research report on Thursday. Evercore ISI upped their target price on Costco Wholesale from $795.00 to $805.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research report on Thursday. Northcoast Research downgraded Costco Wholesale from a buy rating to a neutral rating and set a $620.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Wednesday, December 20th. Finally, DA Davidson reaffirmed a neutral rating and issued a $680.00 target price on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research report on Thursday. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nineteen have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $691.28.

Costco Wholesale Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ COST opened at $732.35 on Thursday. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $730.24 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $654.15. The company has a market cap of $324.80 billion, a PE ratio of 47.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.00 and a beta of 0.77. The company has a quick ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28. Costco Wholesale has a twelve month low of $476.75 and a twelve month high of $787.08.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 7th. The retailer reported $3.71 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.62 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $58.44 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $59.11 billion. Costco Wholesale had a return on equity of 28.80% and a net margin of 2.73%. The business’s revenue was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $3.30 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that Costco Wholesale will post 15.81 EPS for the current year.

Costco Wholesale Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 26th will be paid a $1.16 dividend. This represents a $4.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.63%. This is a boost from Costco Wholesale’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.02. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 25th. Costco Wholesale’s dividend payout ratio is presently 26.68%.

Insider Activity at Costco Wholesale

In other Costco Wholesale news, Director W Craig Jelinek sold 8,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the director now owns 216,212 shares in the company, valued at approximately $148,306,297.16. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other news, Director W Craig Jelinek sold 8,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 is available at this link. Also, VP Yoram Rubanenko sold 2,500 shares of the 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 completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 5,910 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,020,750.30. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 14,182 shares of company stock worth $9,809,558 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Costco Wholesale

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. City Holding Co. increased its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 8.1% in the first quarter. City Holding Co. now owns 7,011 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $5,136,000 after buying an additional 525 shares during the period. Rheos Capital Works Inc. increased its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 32.5% in the first quarter. Rheos Capital Works Inc. now owns 20,800 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $15,239,000 after buying an additional 5,100 shares during the period. Single Point Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Costco Wholesale in the first quarter valued at about $231,000. Royal Fund Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 129.7% in the first quarter. Royal Fund Management LLC now owns 958 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $702,000 after buying an additional 541 shares during the period. Finally, Walker Financial Services Inc. acquired a new stake in Costco Wholesale during the first quarter worth approximately $207,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.