Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST) has been given a $180.00 target price by investment analysts at Cowen and Company in a research report issued on Saturday. The brokerage currently has a “buy” rating on the retailer’s stock. Cowen and Company’s target price would indicate a potential upside of 19.65% from the stock’s current price.
COST has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Bank of America Corporation reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $192.00 price objective (up previously from $180.00) on shares of Costco Wholesale Corporation in a research note on Sunday, May 28th. Barclays PLC raised Costco Wholesale Corporation from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $170.00 to $185.00 in a research note on Thursday, April 20th. Wells Fargo & Company reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Costco Wholesale Corporation in a research note on Friday, May 26th. UBS AG raised Costco Wholesale Corporation from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, June 26th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $185.00 price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale Corporation in a research note on Friday, April 7th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating, twenty-one have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. The stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $179.11.
Costco Wholesale Corporation (COST) opened at 150.44 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $65.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.12 and a beta of 0.94. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $164.54 and its 200-day moving average price is $168.41. Costco Wholesale Corporation has a 52-week low of $142.11 and a 52-week high of $183.18.
Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 25th. The retailer reported $1.40 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the Zacks’ consensus estimate of $1.31 by $0.09. Costco Wholesale Corporation had a return on equity of 20.45% and a net margin of 2.06%. The business had revenue of $28.86 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $28.57 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.24 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that Costco Wholesale Corporation will post $5.77 EPS for the current year.
In other Costco Wholesale Corporation news, Director John W. Meisenbach sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $160.28, for a total value of $160,280.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 5,974 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $957,512.72. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, VP James P. Murphy sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $181.30, for a total value of $906,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 48,845 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,855,598.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 14,000 shares of company stock worth $2,518,180. Insiders own 0.74% of the company’s stock.
Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. IFM Investors Pty Ltd acquired a new position in Costco Wholesale Corporation during the fourth quarter valued at $896,000. Independent Advisor Alliance acquired a new position in Costco Wholesale Corporation during the fourth quarter valued at $2,061,000. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main acquired a new position in Costco Wholesale Corporation during the fourth quarter valued at $8,006,000. Lebenthal Asset Management LLC boosted its position in Costco Wholesale Corporation by 4.2% in the fourth quarter. Lebenthal Asset Management LLC now owns 5,654 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $905,000 after buying an additional 229 shares in the last quarter. Finally, RB Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Costco Wholesale Corporation during the fourth quarter valued at $2,048,000. 73.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
Costco Wholesale Corporation Company Profile
Costco Wholesale Corporation is engaged in the operation of membership warehouses in the United States and Puerto Rico, Canada, the United Kingdom, Mexico, Japan, Australia, Spain, and through its subsidiaries in Taiwan and Korea. As of August 28, 2016, the Company operated 715 warehouses across the world.
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