Telsey Advisory Group Reiterates “Outperform” Rating for Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST)

Telsey Advisory Group reissued their outperform rating on shares of Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) in a report released on Thursday, Benzinga reports. Telsey Advisory Group currently has a $1,000.00 price target on the retailer’s stock.

A number of other brokerages also recently commented on COST. DA Davidson restated a neutral rating and set a $880.00 target price on shares of Costco Wholesale in a report on Thursday. Oppenheimer boosted their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $955.00 to $980.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research report on Thursday. TD Cowen upped their target price on Costco Wholesale from $925.00 to $975.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. Loop Capital lifted their price target on Costco Wholesale from $975.00 to $1,005.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $876.00 to $995.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $886.74.

Costco Wholesale Price Performance

COST stock opened at $889.03 on Thursday. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $882.80 and its 200 day moving average is $828.01. Costco Wholesale has a 52 week low of $540.23 and a 52 week high of $923.83. The firm has a market cap of $394.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 55.08, a P/E/G ratio of 5.53 and a beta of 0.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a quick ratio of 0.44 and a current ratio of 0.97.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, September 26th. The retailer reported $5.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.05 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $79.70 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $4.86 EPS. Research analysts predict that Costco Wholesale will post 17.73 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Costco Wholesale

In other news, EVP Claudine Adamo sold 3,200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $888.99, for a total transaction of $2,844,768.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 8,630 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,671,983.70. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Costco Wholesale news, EVP Claudine Adamo sold 3,200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $888.99, for a total value of $2,844,768.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 8,630 shares in the company, valued at $7,671,983.70. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Susan L. Decker sold 620 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $876.50, for a total transaction of $543,430.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 11,775 shares in the company, valued at $10,320,787.50. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 4,824 shares of company stock worth $4,260,493. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in COST. Wulff Hansen & CO. boosted its position 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 worth $1,253,508,000 after buying an additional 1,473,248 shares in the last quarter. Global Assets Advisory LLC purchased a new stake in Costco Wholesale in the 1st quarter valued at about $510,353,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 620,341 shares during the period. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC grew its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 51,747.5% in the second quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 619,578 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $5,266,000 after purchasing an additional 618,383 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Costco Wholesale by 1.2% during the fourth 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 last quarter. 68.48% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.