William Blair Issues Optimistic Estimate for COST Earnings

Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) – Analysts at William Blair raised their Q3 2025 earnings estimates for Costco Wholesale in a report released on Wednesday, April 9th. William Blair analyst P. Blee now anticipates that the retailer will earn $4.18 per share for the quarter, up from their prior forecast of $4.04. The consensus estimate for Costco Wholesale’s current full-year earnings is $18.03 per share.

A number of other brokerages have also recently commented on COST. DA Davidson raised their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $900.00 to $1,000.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Telsey Advisory Group reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $1,100.00 price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale in a report on Thursday. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,075.00 to $1,035.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Loop Capital cut their price target on Costco Wholesale from $1,150.00 to $1,045.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Finally, Barclays increased their price target on Costco Wholesale from $940.00 to $980.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, March 10th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-one have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Costco Wholesale has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,024.03.

Costco Wholesale Stock Down 0.1 %

Shares of COST opened at $963.41 on Monday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $982.89 and its 200-day moving average price is $949.81. The company has a quick ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23. The company has a market capitalization of $427.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 56.57, a PEG ratio of 6.15 and a beta of 0.95. Costco Wholesale has a 52 week low of $702.00 and a 52 week high of $1,078.24.

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Investment Management Corp VA ADV acquired a new position in shares of Costco Wholesale in the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. Synergy Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Costco Wholesale during the fourth quarter worth $31,000. NewSquare Capital LLC boosted its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 250.0% during the fourth quarter. NewSquare Capital LLC now owns 35 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 25 shares during the period. Endeavor Private Wealth Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Costco Wholesale in the fourth quarter valued at $33,000. Finally, Collier Financial purchased a new stake in shares of Costco Wholesale in the 4th quarter valued at $35,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.48% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

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

Costco Wholesale Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 21st. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 7th were issued a dividend of $1.16 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 7th. This represents a $4.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.48%. Costco Wholesale’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.