Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST - Get Free Report) had its price objective increased by analysts at Oppenheimer from $955.00 to $980.00 in a research note issued on Thursday, Briefing.com reports. The firm presently has an "outperform" rating on the retailer's stock. Oppenheimer's price target points to a potential upside of 7.80% from the company's current price.
Several other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on the stock. Redburn Atlantic downgraded shares of Costco Wholesale from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and upped their target price for the stock from $860.00 to $890.00 in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $925.00 to $927.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $876.00 to $995.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Costco Wholesale from $800.00 to $850.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Finally, Tigress Financial upped their price target on Costco Wholesale from $870.00 to $975.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, June 25th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $886.74.
View Our Latest Report on COST
NASDAQ:COST opened at $909.10 on Thursday. Costco Wholesale has a 52 week low of $540.23 and a 52 week high of $923.83. The company has a quick ratio of 0.44, a current ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25. The stock's fifty day moving average is $879.92 and its two-hundred day moving average is $825.10. The stock has a market capitalization of $403.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 56.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.34 and a beta of 0.80.
Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, September 26th. The retailer reported $5.15 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $5.05 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $79.70 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $79.91 billion. Costco Wholesale had a return on equity of 31.05% and a net margin of 2.90%. Costco Wholesale's revenue for the quarter was up 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $4.86 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Costco Wholesale will post 17.73 EPS for the current year.
In other Costco Wholesale news, Director Kenneth D. Denman sold 350 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $851.53, for a total transaction of $298,035.50. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 5,920 shares of the company's stock, valued at $5,041,057.60. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other Costco Wholesale news, EVP Richard A. Galanti sold 500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $863.88, for a total transaction of $431,940.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 23,800 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,560,344. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Kenneth D. Denman sold 350 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $851.53, for a total transaction of $298,035.50. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 5,920 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,041,057.60. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 8,174 shares of company stock worth $7,097,624. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company's stock.
A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Wulff Hansen & CO. lifted its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 99,208.6% in the 2nd quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 1,474,733 shares of the retailer's stock valued at $1,253,508,000 after buying an additional 1,473,248 shares during the period. Global Assets Advisory LLC acquired a new stake in Costco Wholesale in the first quarter valued at $510,353,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 287.3% during the 2nd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 836,247 shares of the retailer's stock worth $710,802,000 after purchasing an additional 620,341 shares in the last quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC boosted its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 51,747.5% during the 2nd quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 619,578 shares of the retailer's stock worth $5,266,000 after purchasing an additional 618,383 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 40,360,168 shares of the retailer's stock worth $26,640,940,000 after purchasing an additional 485,051 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.48% of the company's stock.
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.
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