Robert W. Baird Boosts Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) Price Target to $1,075.00

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) had its price target raised by investment analysts at Robert W. Baird from $975.00 to $1,075.00 in a research note issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an “outperform” rating on the retailer’s stock. Robert W. Baird’s price target points to a potential upside of 8.30% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other research analysts have also recently issued reports on the company. Loop Capital lifted their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $975.00 to $1,005.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Redburn Atlantic downgraded shares of Costco Wholesale from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $860.00 to $890.00 in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. TD Cowen upped their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $925.00 to $975.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Gordon Haskett raised shares of Costco Wholesale from an “accumulate” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $925.00 price objective for the company in a report on Thursday, August 8th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein initiated coverage on Costco Wholesale in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $1,016.00 target price on the stock. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nineteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Costco Wholesale currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $928.50.

Costco Wholesale Price Performance

Shares of Costco Wholesale stock opened at $992.61 on Thursday. Costco Wholesale has a twelve month low of $606.35 and a twelve month high of $997.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a quick ratio of 0.44 and a current ratio of 0.97. The firm has a market cap of $439.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 59.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.06 and a beta of 0.82. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $913.65 and its 200-day simple moving average is $876.82.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, September 26th. The retailer reported $5.15 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.05 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $79.70 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $79.91 billion. Costco Wholesale had a return on equity of 31.05% and a net margin of 2.90%. The company’s revenue was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $4.86 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Costco Wholesale will post 17.75 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Costco Wholesale news, EVP Richard A. Galanti sold 1,416 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $894.68, for a total value of $1,266,866.88. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 27,400 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $24,514,232. The trade was a 4.91 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Claudine Adamo sold 3,200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $888.99, for a total value of $2,844,768.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 8,630 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,671,983.70. This represents a 27.05 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 11,016 shares of company stock worth $9,826,115. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Costco Wholesale

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Costco Wholesale by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 9,487,057 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $8,380,648,000 after acquiring an additional 162,191 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 3.6% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 9,308,615 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $8,252,274,000 after purchasing an additional 324,973 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 113,947.9% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 7,370,916 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $6,534,464,000 after purchasing an additional 7,364,453 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc boosted its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 2.5% during the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 3,650,562 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $3,102,941,000 after buying an additional 88,550 shares during the period. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC grew its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 3.8% during the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 3,399,127 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $3,013,394,000 after buying an additional 125,444 shares in the last quarter. 68.48% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Costco Wholesale Company Profile

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.