Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) Shares Up 1.3% – Here’s What Happened

Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST)’s stock price was up 1.3% during trading on Tuesday. The stock traded as high as $937.04 and last traded at $935.8490. Approximately 1,801,818 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 18% from the average daily volume of 2,197,591 shares. The stock had previously closed at $923.52.

Costco Wholesale News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Costco Wholesale this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Costco reported September net sales of $30.02 billion, up 13% year over year. Comparable sales increased 12.5% in the U.S., 6.3% in Canada and 10.8% internationally, while digital sales grew 19%. The results reinforce Costco’s traffic and membership-driven retail momentum. Costco September Sales Results
• Positive Sentiment: International operations remain an important growth engine for COST, with double-digit comparable-sales growth outside Canada. Investors are monitoring whether international expansion can support Wall Street’s longer-term revenue and earnings forecasts. Costco International Revenue Performance
• Positive Sentiment: Costco’s value-focused model could benefit from resilient spending by retirees and older consumers. A broader retiree economy is viewed as a potential tailwind for essential retail, including Costco, even though the individual Social Security payment discussed is small. Social Security and the Retiree Economy
• Neutral Sentiment: Analysts caution that September’s headline growth was partly helped by higher gasoline prices and other potentially temporary, lower-margin factors. The key issue for the stock is whether traffic, membership spending and merchandise demand remain strong after those effects are removed. Costco September Sales Analysis
• Negative Sentiment: Costco’s premium valuation leaves limited room for disappointment, while tariffs and ongoing margin pressure could constrain earnings growth. A lawsuit alleging that a Kirkland drink mix was inaccurately labeled “sugar-free” is a smaller potential reputational and legal overhang.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on COST shares. Freedom Broker lowered their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $1,030.00 to $1,010.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, September 25th. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and set a $1,000.00 price target on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research report on Friday, September 25th. Citigroup began coverage on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research note on Thursday, June 18th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $1,020.00 price target for the company. Mizuho cut their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,100.00 to $1,065.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, September 25th. Finally, Truist Financial decreased their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,011.00 to $955.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Friday, September 25th. Twenty-two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,046.27.

Costco Wholesale Trading Up 0.8%

The company has a quick ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $930.95 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $963.67. The stock has a market cap of $421.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 45.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.00 and a beta of 0.88.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, September 24th. The retailer reported $6.75 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.54 by $0.21. The company had revenue of $95.72 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $94.97 billion. Costco Wholesale had a net margin of 3.04% and a return on equity of 27.60%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $5.87 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Costco Wholesale Corporation will post 22.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Costco Wholesale

In other news, EVP Claudine Adamo sold 2,200 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $915.93, for a total transaction of $2,015,046.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 7,134 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,534,244.62. This represents a 23.57% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Costco Wholesale

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Bank of America Corp DE bought a new position in Costco Wholesale in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $6,781,946,000. Diamant Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in Costco Wholesale by 99,278.0% during the 1st quarter. Diamant Asset Management Inc. now owns 6,726,899 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $672,690,000 after acquiring an additional 6,720,130 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its position in Costco Wholesale by 31.7% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 23,901,594 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $22,359,224,000 after acquiring an additional 5,749,362 shares during the period. Corient Private Wealth LLC boosted its position in Costco Wholesale by 838.9% during the 4th quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 6,125,405 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $5,282,182,000 after acquiring an additional 5,472,968 shares during the period. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc bought a new position in shares of Costco Wholesale in the second quarter worth $2,362,188,000. 68.48% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Costco Wholesale Company Profile

Costco Wholesale Corporation operates a membership-based warehouse retail business under the Costco name. The company sells a broad selection of merchandise, including groceries, fresh foods, beverages, appliances, electronics, furniture, apparel, jewelry, hardware, and seasonal products. It also offers services such as gasoline, pharmacies, optical departments, hearing-aid centers, food courts, travel services, and business delivery in selected markets.

Costco markets many products under its private-label Kirkland Signature brand and sells merchandise through warehouse locations and e-commerce platforms.