Costco Wholesale Co. Expected to Post Q3 2024 Earnings of $3.75 Per Share (NASDAQ:COST)

Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) – Equities researchers at William Blair raised their Q3 2024 earnings estimates for Costco Wholesale in a report issued on Thursday, April 11th. William Blair analyst P. Blee now forecasts that the retailer will earn $3.75 per share for the quarter, up from their previous estimate of $3.46. The consensus estimate for Costco Wholesale’s current full-year earnings is $15.84 per share.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 7th. The retailer reported $3.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.62 by $0.09. Costco Wholesale had a net margin of 2.73% and a return on equity of 28.80%. The company had revenue of $58.44 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $59.11 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $3.30 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year.

Several other analysts have also recently weighed in on COST. Telsey Advisory Group reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $800.00 price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. StockNews.com cut shares of Costco Wholesale from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, April 12th. Loop Capital cut their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $830.00 to $820.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $665.00 to $749.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 8th. Finally, Oppenheimer upped their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $760.00 to $805.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 5th. Seven 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.com, Costco Wholesale has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $691.28.

Costco Wholesale Stock Performance

Shares of Costco Wholesale stock opened at $715.97 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28. Costco Wholesale has a twelve month low of $476.75 and a twelve month high of $787.08. The stock has a market cap of $317.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.83, a P/E/G ratio of 4.87 and a beta of 0.77. The company’s fifty day moving average is $730.92 and its 200 day moving average is $658.84.

Costco Wholesale Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 10th. Investors of record on Friday, April 26th will be issued a $1.16 dividend. This represents a $4.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.65%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 25th. This is a positive change from Costco Wholesale’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.02. Costco Wholesale’s dividend payout ratio is currently 26.68%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Costco Wholesale news, EVP Claudine Adamo sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $714.83, for a total value of $1,072,245.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 6,695 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,785,786.85. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other Costco Wholesale news, EVP Claudine Adamo sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $714.83, for a total value of $1,072,245.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 6,695 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,785,786.85. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director W Craig Jelinek sold 8,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $685.93, for a total transaction of $5,487,440.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 216,212 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $148,306,297.16. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 13,442 shares of company stock worth $9,303,768 in the last quarter. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Opinicus Capital Inc. grew its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 1.7% during the 1st quarter. Opinicus Capital Inc. now owns 1,815 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,330,000 after acquiring an additional 31 shares during the period. Trifecta Capital Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 3.4% during the 1st quarter. Trifecta Capital Advisors LLC now owns 14,313 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $10,486,000 after acquiring an additional 467 shares during the period. First Dallas Securities Inc. grew its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 1.4% during the 1st quarter. First Dallas Securities Inc. now owns 3,211 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $2,352,000 after acquiring an additional 44 shares during the period. Independence Bank of Kentucky grew its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 2.3% during the 1st quarter. Independence Bank of Kentucky now owns 1,130 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $828,000 after acquiring an additional 25 shares during the period. Finally, OneAscent Financial Services LLC grew its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 22.5% during the 1st quarter. OneAscent Financial Services LLC now owns 1,722 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,262,000 after acquiring an additional 316 shares during the period. 68.48% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.