Zacks Research Brokers Boost Earnings Estimates for COST

Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) – Equities research analysts at Zacks Research lifted their Q1 2026 earnings per share estimates for Costco Wholesale in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday, March 26th. Zacks Research analyst S. Singh now anticipates that the retailer will earn $4.23 per share for the quarter, up from their prior forecast of $4.21. The consensus estimate for Costco Wholesale’s current full-year earnings is $18.03 per share. Zacks Research also issued estimates for Costco Wholesale’s Q2 2026 earnings at $4.44 EPS, Q3 2026 earnings at $4.68 EPS, FY2026 earnings at $19.75 EPS, Q1 2027 earnings at $4.60 EPS and FY2027 earnings at $21.45 EPS.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 6th. The retailer reported $4.02 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $4.09 by ($0.07). Costco Wholesale had a net margin of 2.93% and a return on equity of 32.31%. The business had revenue of $63.72 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $63.02 billion.

COST has been the topic of several other research reports. Roth Mkm upped their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $755.00 to $907.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,050.00 to $1,145.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $975.00 to $1,090.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Costco Wholesale from $950.00 to $1,000.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-one have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,029.00.

Costco Wholesale Price Performance

NASDAQ COST opened at $929.66 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a current ratio of 0.98 and a quick ratio of 0.43. The firm has a market capitalization of $412.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 54.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.15 and a beta of 0.82. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $988.07 and a 200-day simple moving average of $946.18. Costco Wholesale has a 52-week low of $697.27 and a 52-week high of $1,078.24.

Institutional Trading of Costco Wholesale

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of COST. Norges Bank bought a new position in Costco Wholesale in the fourth quarter worth $5,182,316,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC increased its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 74,796.3% in the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,521,893 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,394,465,000 after buying an additional 1,519,861 shares during the period. Leigh Baldwin & CO. LLC acquired a new position in shares of Costco Wholesale in the 4th quarter valued at $95,452,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 100,422.3% during the 4th quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 796,137 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $729,476,000 after acquiring an additional 795,345 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 12.6% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 5,257,809 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $4,817,573,000 after acquiring an additional 587,303 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 68.48% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Costco Wholesale news, CEO Roland Michael Vachris sold 3,600 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $931.00, for a total value of $3,351,600.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 41,077 shares in the company, valued at $38,242,687. This trade represents a 8.06 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Claudine Adamo sold 900 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $922.56, for a total transaction of $830,304.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 6,987 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,445,926.72. This represents a 11.41 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 5,600 shares of company stock valued at $5,215,915 in the last three months. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Costco Wholesale Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 21st. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 7th were issued a $1.16 dividend. This represents a $4.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.50%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 7th. Costco Wholesale’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 27.09%.

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.