Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) Trading Down 1.7% – Time to Sell?

Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) shares dropped 1.7% during trading on Monday . The company traded as low as $937.00 and last traded at $938.04. Approximately 547,276 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 72% from the average daily volume of 1,946,074 shares. The stock had previously closed at $954.07.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Loop Capital upped their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,005.00 to $1,095.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. TD Cowen raised 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. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on Costco Wholesale from $975.00 to $1,075.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Citigroup raised their price target on Costco Wholesale from $800.00 to $1,060.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $876.00 to $995.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nineteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,011.74.

Costco Wholesale Stock Performance

The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $937.19 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $892.56. The company has a market cap of $425.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 56.30, a P/E/G ratio of 6.02 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.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, September 26th. The retailer reported $5.15 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.05 by $0.10. Costco Wholesale had a return on equity of 33.19% and a net margin of 2.93%. The firm had revenue of $79.70 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $79.91 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $4.86 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 17.83 earnings per share for the current year.

Costco Wholesale Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 1st were given a $1.16 dividend. This represents a $4.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.48%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 1st. Costco Wholesale’s dividend payout ratio is presently 27.25%.

Insider Transactions at Costco Wholesale

In other news, EVP Pierre Riel sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $896.71, for a total transaction of $1,793,420.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 10,210 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,155,409.10. This represents a 16.38 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Richard A. Galanti sold 1,416 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $894.68, for a total value of $1,266,866.88. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 27,400 shares in the company, valued at approximately $24,514,232. This trade represents a 4.91 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 11,016 shares of company stock valued at $9,826,115. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 113,947.9% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 7,370,916 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $6,534,464,000 after acquiring an additional 7,364,453 shares during the last quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. lifted its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 99,208.6% during the second quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 1,474,733 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,253,508,000 after purchasing an additional 1,473,248 shares during the period. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 51,747.5% during the second quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 619,578 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $5,266,000 after purchasing an additional 618,383 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 28.2% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,538,078 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,307,363,000 after purchasing an additional 338,780 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pathway Financial Advisers LLC increased its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 75,894.4% in the third quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 338,935 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $300,473,000 after purchasing an additional 338,489 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.48% of the company’s stock.

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.