Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) Downgraded by StockNews.com to “Hold”

StockNews.com downgraded shares of Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report released on Friday morning.

A number of other equities research analysts have also weighed in on COST. Telsey Advisory Group reissued an outperform rating and set a $800.00 target price on shares of Costco Wholesale in a report on Thursday. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $760.00 to $805.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 5th. Truist Financial boosted their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $693.00 to $741.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Thursday, December 21st. Raymond James upped their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $580.00 to $670.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a report on Friday, December 15th. Finally, Gordon Haskett downgraded shares of Costco Wholesale from a buy rating to an accumulate rating and set a $775.00 price objective on the stock. in a 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 company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $691.28.

Costco Wholesale Price Performance

COST stock opened at $731.31 on Friday. 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 12 month low of $476.75 and a 12 month high of $787.08. The firm has a market cap of $324.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 47.83, a P/E/G ratio of 5.05 and a beta of 0.77. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $730.68 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $655.35.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 7th. The retailer reported $3.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.62 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $58.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $59.11 billion. Costco Wholesale had a net margin of 2.73% and a return on equity of 28.80%. The firm’s revenue was up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $3.30 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Costco Wholesale will post 15.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Costco Wholesale Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 26th will be given a dividend of $1.16 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 25th. This is a positive change from Costco Wholesale’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.02. This represents a $4.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.63%. Costco Wholesale’s payout ratio is presently 26.68%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Costco Wholesale

In other Costco Wholesale news, EVP Caton Frates sold 740 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $683.50, for a total transaction of $505,790.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 6,721 shares in the company, valued at $4,593,803.50. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other Costco Wholesale news, VP Yoram Rubanenko sold 2,500 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $680.33, for a total transaction of $1,700,825.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 5,910 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,020,750.30. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Caton Frates sold 740 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $683.50, for a total transaction of $505,790.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 6,721 shares in the company, valued at $4,593,803.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 14,182 shares of company stock worth $9,809,558 over the last three months. 0.18% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in COST. United Bank increased its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 9.2% in the first quarter. United Bank now owns 5,254 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $3,026,000 after buying an additional 444 shares during the period. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 33.6% in the first quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 383,691 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $220,948,000 after buying an additional 96,566 shares during the period. Covestor Ltd increased its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 87.1% in the first quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 232 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $134,000 after buying an additional 108 shares during the period. Bridgefront Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Costco Wholesale in the first quarter worth $333,000. Finally, Next Century Growth Investors LLC increased its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 0.9% in the first 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. 68.48% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.