Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) Trading Down 0.7% – Should You Sell?

Shares of Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) dropped 0.7% during trading on Thursday . The stock traded as low as $923.16 and last traded at $927.34. Approximately 374,381 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 81% from the average daily volume of 1,921,645 shares. The stock had previously closed at $933.73.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on COST shares. Tigress Financial restated a “buy” rating and set a $1,065.00 target price on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $800.00 to $850.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Barclays boosted their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $830.00 to $850.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. DA Davidson reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $880.00 price target on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $876.00 to $995.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Costco Wholesale has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $905.30.

Costco Wholesale Stock Performance

The company has a market cap of $401.90 billion, a PE ratio of 54.74, a PEG ratio of 5.76 and a beta of 0.80. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $897.62 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $857.72. 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 earnings results on Thursday, September 26th. The retailer reported $5.15 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 17.75 EPS for the current year.

Costco Wholesale Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 1st were paid a dividend of $1.16 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 1st. This represents a $4.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.51%. Costco Wholesale’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 28.00%.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Russell D. Miller sold 4,400 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $891.15, for a total transaction of $3,921,060.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 10,202 shares in the company, valued at $9,091,512.30. The trade was a 30.13 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Richard A. Galanti sold 1,416 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $894.68, for a total value of $1,266,866.88. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 27,400 shares in the company, valued at approximately $24,514,232. This trade represents a 4.91 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 11,016 shares of company stock worth $9,826,115. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in COST. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 1.7% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 9,487,057 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $8,380,648,000 after buying an additional 162,191 shares during the last quarter. Insight Inv LLC raised its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 16.9% in the 3rd quarter. Insight Inv LLC now owns 589 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $522,000 after acquiring an additional 85 shares during the last quarter. Prestige Wealth Management Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Prestige Wealth Management Group LLC now owns 2,623 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $2,325,000 after purchasing an additional 15 shares during the period. Brophy Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Costco Wholesale during the third quarter worth $1,460,000. Finally, Vestcor Inc grew its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 0.4% in the third quarter. Vestcor Inc now owns 18,987 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $16,832,000 after purchasing an additional 80 shares during the period. 68.48% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.