DA Davidson Equities Analysts Boost Earnings Estimates for Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)

Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) – Analysts at DA Davidson increased their Q3 2024 EPS estimates for Costco Wholesale in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday, April 11th. DA Davidson analyst M. Baker now forecasts that the retailer will post earnings per share of $3.33 for the quarter, up from their prior estimate of $3.31. DA Davidson has a “Neutral” rating and a $680.00 price objective on the stock. The consensus estimate for Costco Wholesale’s current full-year earnings is $15.81 per share.

COST has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Telsey Advisory Group reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $800.00 price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research report on Thursday. Northcoast Research cut shares of Costco Wholesale from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $620.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Wednesday, December 20th. StockNews.com cut shares of Costco Wholesale from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday. Roth Mkm boosted their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $601.00 to $650.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Gordon Haskett cut shares of Costco Wholesale from a “buy” rating to an “accumulate” rating and set a $775.00 price objective for the company. 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 company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $691.28.

Costco Wholesale Stock Down 0.1 %

Shares of COST stock opened at $731.31 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $730.68 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $655.35. Costco Wholesale has a 1 year low of $476.75 and a 1 year high of $787.08. The firm has a market capitalization of $324.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 47.83, a PEG ratio of 5.00 and a beta of 0.77. The company has a current ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 7th. The retailer reported $3.71 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.62 by $0.09. Costco Wholesale had a net margin of 2.73% and a return on equity of 28.80%. The business had revenue of $58.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $59.11 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $3.30 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Costco Wholesale

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Von Berge Wealth Management Group LLC boosted its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 48.9% in the 1st quarter. Von Berge Wealth Management Group LLC now owns 865 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $634,000 after buying an additional 284 shares during the period. Inspirion Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Costco Wholesale by 11.4% in the 1st quarter. Inspirion Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 676 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $495,000 after purchasing an additional 69 shares in the last quarter. Affinity Capital Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Costco Wholesale by 2.5% in the 1st quarter. Affinity Capital Advisors LLC now owns 627 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $459,000 after purchasing an additional 15 shares in the last quarter. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC lifted its stake in Costco Wholesale by 5.7% in the 1st quarter. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC now owns 23,579 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $17,274,000 after purchasing an additional 1,278 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northwest Quadrant Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in Costco Wholesale by 1.6% in the 1st quarter. Northwest Quadrant Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,634 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,930,000 after purchasing an additional 42 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 68.48% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Claudine Adamo sold 1,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $714.83, for a total value of $1,072,245.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 6,695 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,785,786.85. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, EVP Claudine Adamo sold 1,500 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $714.83, for a total transaction of $1,072,245.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 6,695 shares in the company, valued at $4,785,786.85. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Caton Frates sold 740 shares of the business’s 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 6,721 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,593,803.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 14,182 shares of company stock valued at $9,809,558 over the last ninety days. 0.18% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Costco Wholesale Increases Dividend

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

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.