BMO Capital Markets Boosts Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) Price Target to $950.00

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) had its target price increased by investment analysts at BMO Capital Markets from $875.00 to $950.00 in a report issued on Monday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an “outperform” rating on the retailer’s stock. BMO Capital Markets’ target price would indicate a potential upside of 9.80% from the company’s current price.

COST has been the subject of a number of other reports. Argus increased their target price on Costco Wholesale from $805.00 to $900.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 28th. Oppenheimer cut their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $950.00 to $925.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. StockNews.com raised shares of Costco Wholesale from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Sunday, June 2nd. Truist Financial lifted their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $815.00 to $873.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 31st. Finally, Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $710.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, May 31st. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Costco Wholesale has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $824.50.

Costco Wholesale Stock Performance

COST traded up $10.26 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $865.19. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 958,220 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,992,976. Costco Wholesale has a twelve month low of $530.56 and a twelve month high of $896.67. The stock has a market cap of $383.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 53.74, a PEG ratio of 5.49 and a beta of 0.78. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $844.97 and a 200 day simple moving average of $776.95. The company has a current ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 30th. The retailer reported $3.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.70 by $0.08. Costco Wholesale had a return on equity of 30.02% and a net margin of 2.83%. The business had revenue of $58.52 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $58.16 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $3.43 earnings per share. Costco Wholesale’s quarterly revenue was up 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Costco Wholesale will post 15.97 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Costco Wholesale

In other Costco Wholesale news, Director Kenneth D. Denman sold 350 shares of the business’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 value of $298,035.50. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 5,920 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,041,057.60. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In related news, Director Kenneth D. Denman sold 350 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $851.53, for a total value 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 approximately $5,041,057.60. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Daniel M. Hines sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $844.20, for a total value of $1,266,300.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 12,492 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,545,746.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 3,350 shares of company stock worth $2,837,131 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Main Street Financial Solutions LLC lifted its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 4.7% during the fourth quarter. Main Street Financial Solutions LLC now owns 1,763 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,164,000 after acquiring an additional 79 shares during the period. Metis Global Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 15.6% in the 4th quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 21,514 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $14,201,000 after purchasing an additional 2,909 shares in the last quarter. Zhang Financial LLC boosted its stake in Costco Wholesale by 3.8% in the first quarter. Zhang Financial LLC now owns 1,010 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $740,000 after buying an additional 37 shares in the last quarter. Strong Tower Advisory Services grew its position in Costco Wholesale by 7.9% during the first quarter. Strong Tower Advisory Services now owns 1,867 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,346,000 after acquiring an additional 137 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC raised its position in Costco Wholesale by 6.2% in the 4th quarter. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 27,902 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $18,418,000 after purchasing an additional 1,627 shares during the period. 68.48% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.