Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) Shares Down 0.4% – Here’s What Happened

Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)’s share price traded down 0.4% during mid-day trading on Friday . The stock traded as low as $1,024.68 and last traded at $1,030.47. 468,578 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 75% from the average session volume of 1,864,754 shares. The stock had previously closed at $1,034.83.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $950.00 to $1,150.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $1,050.00 to $1,145.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Citigroup upped their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $800.00 to $1,060.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $950.00 to $1,000.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Truist Financial upped their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $909.00 to $935.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nineteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Costco Wholesale currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,021.93.

Costco Wholesale Trading Down 0.5 %

The stock has a market cap of $457.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 60.42, a P/E/G ratio of 6.32 and a beta of 0.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a current ratio of 0.98. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $974.70 and a 200-day moving average price of $928.97.

Costco Wholesale Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 21st. Investors of record on Friday, February 7th will be given a $1.16 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 7th. This represents a $4.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.45%. Costco Wholesale’s payout ratio is 27.25%.

Institutional Trading of Costco Wholesale

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Costco Wholesale by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 42,201,610 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $38,668,069,000 after buying an additional 455,043 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Costco Wholesale by 2.7% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 9,739,175 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $8,901,249,000 after buying an additional 252,118 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its position in Costco Wholesale by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 9,457,824 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $8,665,921,000 after buying an additional 149,209 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its position in Costco Wholesale by 113,947.9% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 7,370,916 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $6,534,464,000 after buying an additional 7,364,453 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in Costco Wholesale in the 4th quarter worth approximately $5,182,316,000. Institutional investors own 68.48% of the company’s stock.

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.