Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) Posts Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.10 EPS

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday. The retailer reported $5.15 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.05 by $0.10, Briefing.com reports. The company had revenue of $79.70 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $79.91 billion. Costco Wholesale had a net margin of 2.83% and a return on equity of 30.02%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $4.86 EPS.

Costco Wholesale Stock Performance

Shares of COST traded down $15.82 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $885.62. The company had a trading volume of 3,459,054 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,969,224. The stock has a market capitalization of $392.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 54.87, a PEG ratio of 5.57 and a beta of 0.80. The company has a quick ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $870.67 and a two-hundred day moving average of $816.15. Costco Wholesale has a 52-week low of $540.23 and a 52-week high of $923.83.

Costco Wholesale Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 9th. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 26th were paid a $1.16 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, July 26th. This represents a $4.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.52%. Costco Wholesale’s payout ratio is currently 28.75%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on COST shares. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $915.00 to $925.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, September 6th. Loop Capital raised their target price on Costco Wholesale from $975.00 to $1,005.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $915.00 to $925.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $874.00 to $962.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 11th. Finally, Redburn Atlantic downgraded Costco Wholesale from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $860.00 to $890.00 in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $881.19.

Insider Activity at Costco Wholesale

In other news, insider Daniel M. Hines sold 1,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $844.20, for a total transaction of $1,266,300.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 12,492 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,545,746.40. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Costco Wholesale news, Director Kenneth D. Denman sold 350 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $851.53, for a total value of $298,035.50. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 5,920 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,041,057.60. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Daniel M. Hines sold 1,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $844.20, for a total transaction of $1,266,300.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 12,492 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,545,746.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 4,974 shares of company stock worth $4,252,856 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.18% 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.