Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) Price Target Increased to $975.00 by Analysts at Tigress Financial

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) had its price objective increased by Tigress Financial from $870.00 to $975.00 in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday morning, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a buy rating on the retailer’s stock.

A number of other brokerages have also recently weighed in on COST. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $710.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a report on Friday, May 31st. Roth Mkm restated a neutral rating and set a $676.00 target price (up from $650.00) on shares of Costco Wholesale in a report on Friday, May 31st. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on Costco Wholesale from $860.00 to $890.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research report on Thursday, June 20th. Barclays raised their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $700.00 to $765.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a research report on Friday, May 31st. Finally, Oppenheimer lifted their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $850.00 to $905.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research report on Thursday, June 6th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $756.85.

Costco Wholesale Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:COST opened at $855.51 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $793.52 and a 200 day simple moving average of $735.97. Costco Wholesale has a fifty-two week low of $521.26 and a fifty-two week high of $873.96. The company has a market cap of $379.27 billion, a PE ratio of 53.01, a P/E/G ratio of 5.61 and a beta of 0.79.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 30th. The retailer reported $3.78 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.70 by $0.08. Costco Wholesale had a net margin of 2.83% and a return on equity of 30.02%. The company had revenue of $58.52 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $58.16 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $3.43 earnings per share. Costco Wholesale’s revenue was up 9.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Costco Wholesale will post 15.98 EPS for the current year.

Costco Wholesale Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 26th were given a $1.16 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 25th. This represents a $4.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.54%. This is an increase from Costco Wholesale’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.02. Costco Wholesale’s payout ratio is 28.75%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Russell D. Miller sold 785 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $722.86, for a total transaction of $567,445.10. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 10,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,228,600. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Company 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 modified their holdings of COST. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Costco Wholesale by 1.2% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 40,833,870 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $29,916,118,000 after buying an additional 473,702 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Costco Wholesale in the fourth quarter valued at $3,628,694,000. Capital World Investors boosted its position in Costco Wholesale by 8.1% during the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 3,824,778 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $2,802,147,000 after purchasing an additional 285,533 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 61,693.5% during the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 3,105,124 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $2,049,630,000 after acquiring an additional 3,100,099 shares during the period. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in Costco Wholesale by 3.2% in the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 2,794,480 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,844,581,000 after purchasing an additional 85,398 shares during the period. 68.48% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.