DA Davidson Reduces Earnings Estimates for Costco Wholesale

Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) – Research analysts at DA Davidson dropped their Q1 2025 earnings per share (EPS) estimates for shares of Costco Wholesale in a report issued on Thursday, December 5th. DA Davidson analyst M. Baker now expects that the retailer will earn $3.51 per share for the quarter, down from their previous forecast of $3.52. DA Davidson currently has a “Neutral” rating and a $880.00 target price on the stock. The consensus estimate for Costco Wholesale’s current full-year earnings is $17.74 per share.

Several other research analysts also recently weighed in on COST. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $830.00 to $850.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Tigress Financial reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $1,065.00 target price on shares of Costco Wholesale in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $935.00 to $1,000.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $850.00 to $950.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Finally, Redburn Atlantic downgraded shares of Costco Wholesale from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $860.00 to $890.00 in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nineteen have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $928.50.

Costco Wholesale Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of Costco Wholesale stock opened at $987.86 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $437.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 59.62, a P/E/G ratio of 6.05 and a beta of 0.82. 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 company has a fifty day moving average of $917.82 and a 200 day moving average of $880.63. Costco Wholesale has a fifty-two week low of $618.76 and a fifty-two week high of $997.71.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last issued 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. The company had revenue of $79.70 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $79.91 billion. Costco Wholesale had a net margin of 2.90% and a return on equity of 31.05%. Costco Wholesale’s quarterly revenue was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $4.86 EPS.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Costco Wholesale during the third quarter worth about $29,000. Financial Connections Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 557.1% during the 2nd quarter. Financial Connections Group Inc. now owns 46 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $39,000 after acquiring an additional 39 shares during the period. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 73.5% during the 2nd quarter. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. now owns 59 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $50,000 after acquiring an additional 25 shares during the period. Summit Securities Group LLC acquired a new stake in Costco Wholesale in the 2nd quarter valued at about $50,000. Finally, Fairway Wealth LLC raised its position in Costco Wholesale by 230.0% in the 2nd quarter. Fairway Wealth LLC now owns 66 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $56,000 after purchasing an additional 46 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.48% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Costco Wholesale

In other news, EVP Claudine Adamo sold 3,200 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction on Monday, September 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $888.99, for a total transaction of $2,844,768.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 8,630 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,671,983.70. The trade was a 27.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Pierre Riel sold 2,000 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $896.71, for a total transaction of $1,793,420.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 10,210 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,155,409.10. The trade was a 16.38 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 11,016 shares of company stock worth $9,826,115 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Costco Wholesale Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 1st were paid a $1.16 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 1st. This represents a $4.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.47%. Costco Wholesale’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 28.00%.

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.