Analysts Set Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST) Target Price at $1,034.79

Shares of Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST) have received an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-nine ratings firms that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $1,034.79.

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $940.00 to $980.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, March 10th. Evercore ISI decreased their target price on Costco Wholesale from $1,075.00 to $1,060.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. Stifel Nicolaus set a $1,035.00 target price on Costco Wholesale in a research note on Thursday, May 29th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on Costco Wholesale from $1,075.00 to $1,125.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Costco Wholesale from $1,150.00 to $1,225.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, May 30th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Costco Wholesale news, EVP Claudine Adamo sold 900 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $922.56, for a total value of $830,304.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 6,987 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,445,926.72. This trade represents a 11.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Susan L. Decker sold 547 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $980.00, for a total transaction of $536,060.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 11,531 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,300,380. This trade represents a 4.53% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 11,547 shares of company stock valued at $11,361,265 over the last quarter. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Costco Wholesale

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in COST. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 106,402.1% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 8,160,190 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $7,717,744,000 after purchasing an additional 8,152,528 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Costco Wholesale during the 4th quarter valued at about $5,182,316,000. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in shares of Costco Wholesale during the 1st quarter worth about $3,461,159,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 74,796.3% in the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,521,893 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,394,465,000 after acquiring an additional 1,519,861 shares during the period. Finally, Leigh Baldwin & CO. LLC bought a new position in shares of Costco Wholesale in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $95,452,000. 68.48% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Costco Wholesale Stock Performance

Costco Wholesale stock opened at $980.29 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $434.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 55.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.76 and a beta of 1.00. Costco Wholesale has a 12 month low of $793.00 and a 12 month high of $1,078.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a current ratio of 1.02 and a quick ratio of 0.52. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $1,002.94 and its 200-day moving average is $981.10.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 29th. The retailer reported $4.28 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.24 by $0.04. Costco Wholesale had a net margin of 2.92% and a return on equity of 30.48%. The firm had revenue of $63.21 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $62.93 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $3.78 earnings per share. Costco Wholesale’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that Costco Wholesale will post 18.03 earnings per share for the current year.

Costco Wholesale Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 16th. Investors of record on Friday, May 2nd were given a dividend of $1.30 per share. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.53%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 2nd. This is an increase from Costco Wholesale’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.16. Costco Wholesale’s dividend payout ratio is currently 29.50%.

About Costco Wholesale

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.