Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) Stock Rating Reaffirmed by DA Davidson

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST)‘s stock had its “neutral” rating restated by investment analysts at DA Davidson in a research report issued on Thursday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $880.00 price objective on the retailer’s stock. DA Davidson’s price target suggests a potential downside of 1.02% from the stock’s previous close. DA Davidson also issued estimates for Costco Wholesale’s Q1 2025 earnings at $3.51 EPS, FY2025 earnings at $17.75 EPS and FY2026 earnings at $19.01 EPS.

COST has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $925.00 to $935.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. TD Cowen upped their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $925.00 to $975.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Loop Capital lifted their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $975.00 to $1,005.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $850.00 to $975.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 11th. Finally, Telsey Advisory Group reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $1,000.00 price target on shares of Costco Wholesale in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $886.74.

Costco Wholesale Stock Performance

Costco Wholesale stock opened at $889.03 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $394.14 billion, a PE ratio of 55.08, a P/E/G ratio of 5.53 and a beta of 0.80. Costco Wholesale has a 12 month low of $540.23 and a 12 month high of $923.83. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $882.80 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $826.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a current ratio of 0.97 and a quick ratio of 0.44.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, September 26th. The retailer reported $5.15 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.05 by $0.10. Costco Wholesale had a net margin of 2.90% and a return on equity of 31.05%. The business had revenue of $79.70 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $79.91 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $4.86 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that Costco Wholesale will post 17.73 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Susan L. Decker sold 620 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $876.50, for a total transaction of $543,430.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 11,775 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,320,787.50. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Costco Wholesale news, Director Kenneth D. Denman sold 350 shares of the company’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 transaction of $298,035.50. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 5,920 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,041,057.60. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Susan L. Decker sold 620 shares of the firm’s 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 owns 11,775 shares in the company, valued at $10,320,787.50. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 6,674 shares of company stock worth $5,831,324. 0.18% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Costco Wholesale

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in COST. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 1.2% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 40,833,870 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $29,916,118,000 after purchasing an additional 473,702 shares during the period. Capital World Investors lifted its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 8.1% in the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 3,824,778 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $2,802,147,000 after buying an additional 285,533 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc grew its position in Costco Wholesale by 2.5% during the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 3,650,562 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $3,102,941,000 after buying an additional 88,550 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Costco Wholesale by 3.0% during the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 2,790,935 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,842,241,000 after acquiring an additional 81,853 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 28.2% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,538,078 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,307,363,000 after acquiring an additional 338,780 shares in the last quarter. 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.