Costco Wholesale Co. (COST) Lowered to Hold at Vetr Inc.

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

A number of other equities analysts have also weighed in on COST. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on Costco Wholesale from $176.00 to $177.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research note on Thursday, December 8th. BMO Capital Markets restated an outperform rating and issued a $180.00 target price on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research note on Thursday, December 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. restated an overweight rating on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research note on Thursday, December 8th. Wells Fargo & Co restated a hold rating and issued a $152.50 target price on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research note on Friday, December 9th. Finally, Barclays PLC restated an equal weight rating and issued a $158.00 target price on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research note on Friday, December 9th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating, twenty have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The stock presently has a consensus rating of Buy and an average target price of $178.73.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) opened at 170.17 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $74.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.39 and a beta of 0.89. Costco Wholesale has a 12 month low of $138.57 and a 12 month high of $178.71. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $169.38 and its 200-day moving average price is $160.24.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, March 2nd. The retailer reported $1.17 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.36 by $0.19. The business earned $29.77 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $29.75 billion. Costco Wholesale had a return on equity of 20.06% and a net margin of 2.02%. Costco Wholesale’s revenue was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.24 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict that Costco Wholesale will post $5.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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In other Costco Wholesale news, insider John D. Mckay sold 4,948 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $168.25, for a total transaction of $832,501.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 64,532 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,857,509. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director James D. Sinegal sold 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $166.35, for a total value of $16,635,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 717,296 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $119,322,189.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 125,948 shares of company stock valued at $20,932,141 in the last ninety days. 0.74% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in COST. Verus Financial Partners Inc. acquired a new position in Costco Wholesale during the first quarter worth approximately $215,000. ELM Advisors LLC raised its position in Costco Wholesale by 9.4% in the first quarter. ELM Advisors LLC now owns 3,775 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $633,000 after buying an additional 325 shares during the last quarter. Honkamp Krueger Financial Services Inc. raised its position in Costco Wholesale by 7.2% in the first quarter. Honkamp Krueger Financial Services Inc. now owns 4,865 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $816,000 after buying an additional 328 shares during the last quarter. Horan Capital Management acquired a new position in Costco Wholesale during the first quarter worth approximately $916,000. Finally, Ipswich Investment Management Co. Inc. raised its position in Costco Wholesale by 0.6% in the first quarter. Ipswich Investment Management Co. Inc. now owns 16,401 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $2,750,000 after buying an additional 95 shares during the last quarter. 73.12% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Costco Wholesale Company Profile

Costco Wholesale Corporation is engaged in the operation of membership warehouses in the United States and Puerto Rico, Canada, the United Kingdom, Mexico, Japan, Australia, Spain, and through its subsidiaries in Taiwan and Korea. As of August 28, 2016, the Company operated 715 warehouses across the world.

To view Vetr’s full report, visit Vetr’s official website.