Loop Capital Has Lowered Expectations for Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) Stock Price

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) had its price target lowered by stock analysts at Loop Capital from $1,150.00 to $1,135.00 in a report released on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a “buy” rating on the retailer’s stock. Loop Capital’s target price would indicate a potential upside of 17.70% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other research firms have also commented on COST. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,065.00 to $1,070.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,075.00 to $1,175.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $1,075.00 target price (up from $980.00) on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Costco Wholesale from $950.00 to $1,000.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Evercore ISI reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Costco Wholesale in a report on Friday, February 14th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nineteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,029.00.

Costco Wholesale Trading Down 6.1 %

NASDAQ COST traded down $62.31 during trading on Friday, hitting $964.31. 5,478,540 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,847,757. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $989.20 and a two-hundred day moving average of $942.33. Costco Wholesale has a 12-month low of $697.27 and a 12-month high of $1,078.24. The firm has a market cap of $428.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 56.62, a PEG ratio of 6.15 and a beta of 0.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a current ratio of 0.98 and a quick ratio of 0.43.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, March 6th. The retailer reported $4.02 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $4.09 by ($0.07). The company had revenue of $63.72 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $63.02 billion. Costco Wholesale had a net margin of 2.93% and a return on equity of 32.31%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Costco Wholesale will post 18.03 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Costco Wholesale

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised 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% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 9,739,175 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $8,901,249,000 after purchasing an additional 252,118 shares during the period. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 9,457,824 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $8,665,921,000 after purchasing an additional 149,209 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Costco Wholesale during the 4th quarter valued at $5,182,316,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 12.6% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 5,257,809 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $4,817,573,000 after buying an additional 587,303 shares during the period. Institutional investors 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.