Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) Posts Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.10 EPS

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday. The retailer reported $5.15 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.05 by $0.10, Briefing.com reports. The firm had revenue of $79.70 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $79.91 billion. Costco Wholesale had a net margin of 2.83% and a return on equity of 30.02%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $4.86 earnings per share.

Costco Wholesale Trading Down 1.8 %

Shares of Costco Wholesale stock opened at $885.62 on Friday. 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 market cap of $392.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 54.87, a PEG ratio of 5.47 and a beta of 0.80. Costco Wholesale has a twelve month low of $540.23 and a twelve month high of $923.83. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $870.67 and a 200-day moving average price of $816.70.

Costco Wholesale Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 9th. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 26th were issued a dividend of $1.16 per share. This represents a $4.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.52%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, July 26th. Costco Wholesale’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 28.75%.

Insider Activity at Costco Wholesale

In other Costco Wholesale news, insider Daniel M. Hines sold 1,500 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $844.20, for a total value of $1,266,300.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 12,492 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,545,746.40. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Costco Wholesale news, insider Daniel M. Hines sold 1,500 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction on Friday, July 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $844.20, for a total value of $1,266,300.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 12,492 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,545,746.40. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Susan L. Decker sold 620 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $876.50, for a total transaction of $543,430.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 11,775 shares in the company, valued at $10,320,787.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 4,974 shares of company stock valued at $4,252,856. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have commented on COST shares. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $980.00 target price (up previously from $950.00) on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research report on Friday. Redburn Atlantic cut Costco Wholesale from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $860.00 to $890.00 in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. DA Davidson increased their target price on Costco Wholesale from $780.00 to $880.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday. Telsey Advisory Group boosted their price target on Costco Wholesale from $925.00 to $1,000.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $874.00 to $962.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 11th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Costco Wholesale has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $881.19.

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.