Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) Trading Down 0.5% – Here’s What Happened

Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)’s stock price traded down 0.5% during trading on Wednesday . The company traded as low as $930.02 and last traded at $925.39. 629,764 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 65% from the average session volume of 1,811,344 shares. The stock had previously closed at $930.49.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,075.00 to $1,175.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $840.00 to $1,040.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Raymond James lifted their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $990.00 to $1,030.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,050.00 to $1,145.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. Finally, Evercore ISI lifted their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,050.00 to $1,070.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-one have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Costco Wholesale has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,030.43.

Costco Wholesale Price Performance

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 stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $990.05 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $944.14. The stock has a market cap of $394.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 51.84, a P/E/G ratio of 6.15 and a beta of 0.81.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, March 6th. The retailer reported $4.02 EPS 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. On average, analysts forecast that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 18.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Costco Wholesale Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 21st. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 7th were paid a $1.16 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 7th. This represents a $4.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.52%. Costco Wholesale’s dividend payout ratio is presently 27.09%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Roland Michael Vachris sold 3,600 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $931.00, for a total value of $3,351,600.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 41,077 shares in the company, valued at approximately $38,242,687. The trade was a 8.06 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 0.18% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in Costco Wholesale by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,808,255 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $2,489,574,000 after buying an additional 32,074 shares in the last quarter. Nwam LLC bought a new stake in Costco Wholesale during the 3rd quarter worth about $20,056,000. CHURCHILL MANAGEMENT Corp bought a new stake in Costco Wholesale during the 4th quarter worth about $8,430,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 15.0% during the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 7,662 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $7,020,000 after purchasing an additional 1,001 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dale Q Rice Investment Management Ltd bought a new stake in Costco Wholesale during the 4th quarter worth about $984,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.48% of the company’s stock.

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.