Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) Trading Down 0.6% – Should You Sell?

Shares of Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) fell 0.6% on Wednesday . The company traded as low as $1,031.28 and last traded at $1,030.76. 317,911 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 83% from the average session volume of 1,829,515 shares. The stock had previously closed at $1,036.87.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

COST has been the topic of a number of research reports. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,075.00 to $1,175.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Jefferies Financial Group increased 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. Loop Capital boosted their target price on Costco Wholesale from $1,005.00 to $1,095.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on Costco Wholesale from $1,000.00 to $1,075.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Roth Mkm upped their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $755.00 to $907.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nineteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,027.57.

Costco Wholesale Stock Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23. The company has a market capitalization of $428.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 56.65, a PEG ratio of 6.15 and a beta of 0.84. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $989.20 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $942.33.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last released its earnings results on Thursday, March 6th. The retailer reported $4.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.09 by ($0.07). The firm had revenue of $63.72 billion during 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, analysts forecast that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 18.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Costco Wholesale Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 21st. Investors of record on Friday, February 7th were given a dividend of $1.16 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 7th. This represents a $4.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.48%. Costco Wholesale’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 27.25%.

Institutional Trading of Costco Wholesale

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in COST. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 42,201,610 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $38,668,069,000 after purchasing an additional 455,043 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 2.7% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 9,739,175 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $8,901,249,000 after acquiring an additional 252,118 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its position in Costco Wholesale by 1.6% during the 4th 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 period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Costco Wholesale in the 4th quarter valued at $5,182,316,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its position in Costco Wholesale by 12.6% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 5,257,809 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $4,817,573,000 after purchasing an additional 587,303 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other 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.