Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) Issues Earnings Results, Beats Estimates By $0.09 EPS

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) announced its earnings results on Thursday. The retailer reported $3.71 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.62 by $0.09, Briefing.com reports. Costco Wholesale had a net margin of 2.65% and a return on equity of 27.44%. The firm had revenue of $58.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $59.11 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $3.30 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year.

Costco Wholesale Stock Down 6.3 %

COST traded down $49.35 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $736.24. The company had a trading volume of 3,925,993 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,073,726. Costco Wholesale has a 52 week low of $466.80 and a 52 week high of $787.08. The company has a quick ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22. The company has a market capitalization of $326.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 50.29, a PEG ratio of 5.45 and a beta of 0.77. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $705.95 and its 200 day moving average price is $623.53.

Costco Wholesale Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 16th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 2nd were paid a $1.02 dividend. This represents a $4.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.55%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 1st. Costco Wholesale’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 27.81%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Costco Wholesale

In other Costco Wholesale news, VP Yoram Rubanenko sold 2,500 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $680.33, for a total value of $1,700,825.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 5,910 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,020,750.30. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other Costco Wholesale news, VP Yoram Rubanenko sold 2,500 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $680.33, for a total value of $1,700,825.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 5,910 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,020,750.30. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Richard A. Galanti sold 1,112 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $680.21, for a total transaction of $756,393.52. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 24,300 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,529,103. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 15,194 shares of company stock valued at $10,420,927. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Costco Wholesale

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 40,360,165 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $26,640,938,000 after purchasing an additional 485,048 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley boosted its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 18.0% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 8,634,627 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $3,941,708,000 after purchasing an additional 1,315,174 shares during the last quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 118,320.2% during the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 7,396,524 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $3,376,513,000 after purchasing an additional 7,390,278 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Costco Wholesale during the fourth quarter worth about $2,328,844,000. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc boosted its stake in Costco Wholesale by 25.5% in the fourth quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 3,502,880 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $2,312,184,000 after acquiring an additional 711,987 shares during the last quarter. 66.31% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on COST shares. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $665.00 to $749.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 8th. Loop Capital raised their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $710.00 to $755.00 in a research note on Friday, January 19th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $615.00 to $675.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 15th. Tigress Financial raised their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $635.00 to $745.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 29th. Finally, Telsey Advisory Group increased their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $750.00 to $785.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $663.29.

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.