FY2024 EPS Estimates for Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) Increased by Analyst

Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) – Analysts at William Blair upped their FY2024 earnings estimates for shares of Costco Wholesale in a report issued on Thursday, April 11th. William Blair analyst P. Blee now expects that the retailer will post earnings per share of $15.98 for the year, up from their previous forecast of $15.62. The consensus estimate for Costco Wholesale’s current full-year earnings is $15.81 per share. William Blair also issued estimates for Costco Wholesale’s Q4 2024 earnings at $5.04 EPS and FY2025 earnings at $17.89 EPS.

Several other analysts have also weighed in on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $610.00 to $675.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 8th. Oppenheimer lifted their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $760.00 to $805.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 5th. DA Davidson reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $680.00 price target on shares of Costco Wholesale in a report on Thursday. Gordon Haskett downgraded shares of Costco Wholesale from a “buy” rating to an “accumulate” rating and set a $775.00 price target for the company. in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Finally, Evercore ISI lifted their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $795.00 to $805.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday. Seven investment 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 an average target price of $691.28.

Costco Wholesale Price Performance

Shares of Costco Wholesale stock opened at $731.31 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a current ratio of 0.93. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $730.68 and its 200-day simple moving average is $655.35. Costco Wholesale has a twelve month low of $476.75 and a twelve month high of $787.08. The firm has a market cap of $324.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 47.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.00 and a beta of 0.77.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, March 7th. The retailer reported $3.71 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 in the previous year, the business earned $3.30 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Von Berge Wealth Management Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 48.9% in the first quarter. Von Berge Wealth Management Group LLC now owns 865 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $634,000 after buying an additional 284 shares during the period. Inspirion Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 11.4% in the first quarter. Inspirion Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 676 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $495,000 after buying an additional 69 shares during the period. Affinity Capital Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 2.5% in the first quarter. Affinity Capital Advisors LLC now owns 627 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $459,000 after buying an additional 15 shares during the period. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 5.7% in the first quarter. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC now owns 23,579 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $17,274,000 after buying an additional 1,278 shares during the period. Finally, Northwest Quadrant Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 1.6% in the first quarter. Northwest Quadrant Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,634 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,930,000 after buying an additional 42 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.48% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, VP Yoram Rubanenko sold 2,500 shares of the business’s 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 completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 5,910 shares in the company, valued at $4,020,750.30. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, VP Yoram Rubanenko sold 2,500 shares of the business’s 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 completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 5,910 shares in the company, valued at $4,020,750.30. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director W Craig Jelinek sold 8,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $685.93, for a total transaction of $5,487,440.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 216,212 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $148,306,297.16. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 14,182 shares of company stock valued at $9,809,558 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Costco Wholesale Increases Dividend

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

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.