Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) Earns Outperform Rating from Telsey Advisory Group

Telsey Advisory Group reaffirmed their outperform rating on shares of Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) in a research note issued to investors on Thursday, Benzinga reports. Telsey Advisory Group currently has a $1,000.00 target price on the retailer’s stock. Telsey Advisory Group also issued estimates for Costco Wholesale’s Q1 2026 earnings at $4.40 EPS, Q2 2026 earnings at $4.59 EPS, Q3 2026 earnings at $4.62 EPS and Q4 2026 earnings at $6.45 EPS.

COST has been the topic of several other research reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $925.00 to $927.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. Roth Mkm lifted their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $676.00 to $755.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Loop Capital increased their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $975.00 to $1,005.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $915.00 to $925.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on Costco Wholesale from $876.00 to $995.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $883.04.

Costco Wholesale Stock Performance

COST opened at $883.11 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $391.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 54.72, a PEG ratio of 5.38 and a beta of 0.80. Costco Wholesale has a fifty-two week low of $540.23 and a fifty-two week high of $923.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a current ratio of 0.94. The company has a fifty day moving average of $875.41 and a 200 day moving average of $821.91.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, September 26th. The retailer reported $5.15 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.05 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $79.70 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $79.91 billion. Costco Wholesale had a return on equity of 31.30% and a net margin of 2.90%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $4.86 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Costco Wholesale will post 17.74 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Costco Wholesale Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 9th. Investors of record on Friday, July 26th were issued a dividend of $1.16 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, July 26th. This represents a $4.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.53%. Costco Wholesale’s payout ratio is 28.75%.

Insider Activity at Costco Wholesale

In related news, 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 transaction 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 trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, EVP Claudine Adamo sold 3,200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $888.99, for a total value of $2,844,768.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 8,630 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,671,983.70. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Daniel M. Hines sold 1,500 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction on Friday, July 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $844.20, for a total transaction of $1,266,300.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 12,492 shares in the company, valued at $10,545,746.40. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 8,174 shares of company stock worth $7,097,624. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. J. W. Coons Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. J. W. Coons Advisors LLC now owns 3,802 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $2,510,000 after buying an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. Pinebridge Investments L.P. raised its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 21.1% in the fourth quarter. Pinebridge Investments L.P. now owns 9,250 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $6,106,000 after acquiring an additional 1,611 shares in the last quarter. Stephens Inc. AR boosted its stake in Costco Wholesale by 3.1% during the 4th quarter. Stephens Inc. AR now owns 14,689 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $9,696,000 after acquiring an additional 440 shares during the last quarter. Morningstar Investment Services LLC grew its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 150.1% during the 4th quarter. Morningstar Investment Services LLC now owns 2,193 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,454,000 after acquiring an additional 1,316 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Costco Wholesale in the 4th quarter worth about $26,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.48% of the company’s stock.

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.