Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) Stock Price Up 0.1% – Should You Buy?

Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) traded up 0.1% on Monday . The company traded as high as $910.65 and last traded at $904.93. 559,403 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 69% from the average session volume of 1,807,081 shares. The stock had previously closed at $903.92.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on COST shares. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $1,000.00 to $1,075.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Costco Wholesale from $1,065.00 to $1,070.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $940.00 to $980.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, March 10th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,075.00 to $1,175.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Robert W. Baird increased their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,075.00 to $1,125.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-one have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Costco Wholesale currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,030.43.

Costco Wholesale Trading Up 2.0 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a current ratio of 0.98 and a quick ratio of 0.43. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $989.80 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $944.86. The company has a market cap of $409.10 billion, a PE ratio of 54.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.15 and a beta of 0.82.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last released its earnings results on Thursday, March 6th. The retailer reported $4.02 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $4.09 by ($0.07). Costco Wholesale had a net margin of 2.93% and a return on equity of 32.31%. The firm had revenue of $63.72 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $63.02 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 18.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Costco Wholesale Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 21st. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 7th were paid a $1.16 dividend. This represents a $4.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.50%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 7th. Costco Wholesale’s payout ratio is presently 27.09%.

Insider Activity at Costco Wholesale

In related news, CEO Roland Michael Vachris sold 3,600 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $931.00, for a total transaction of $3,351,600.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 41,077 shares in the company, valued at $38,242,687. This trade represents a 8.06 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.18% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Costco Wholesale

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 1.2% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,808,255 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $2,489,574,000 after purchasing an additional 32,074 shares in the last quarter. Nwam LLC acquired a new stake in Costco Wholesale during the 3rd quarter valued at $20,056,000. CHURCHILL MANAGEMENT Corp purchased a new position in Costco Wholesale in the 4th quarter valued at about $8,430,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in Costco Wholesale by 15.0% during the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 7,662 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $7,020,000 after acquiring an additional 1,001 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dale Q Rice Investment Management Ltd purchased a new stake in Costco Wholesale in the 4th quarter worth approximately $984,000. 68.48% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.