Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) Earns “Buy” Rating from Argus

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reiterated by equities research analysts at Argus in a research note issued to investors on Monday, Benzinga reports. They presently have a $1,230.00 target price on the retailer’s stock. Argus’ target price points to a potential upside of 33.03% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other research analysts have also recently commented on COST. HSBC upgraded Costco Wholesale to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. UBS Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research report on Thursday, September 17th. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,130.00 to $1,100.00 in a research note on Friday, September 25th. Evercore reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Costco Wholesale in a report on Tuesday, September 22nd. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “buy” rating and issued a $1,091.00 target price on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research report on Friday, September 4th. Twenty-two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,046.27.

Costco Wholesale Trading Up 0.2%

Shares of NASDAQ:COST opened at $924.59 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $410.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.54, a P/E/G ratio of 3.95 and a beta of 0.86. Costco Wholesale has a 1 year low of $844.06 and a 1 year high of $1,096.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11, a current ratio of 1.06 and a quick ratio of 0.62. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $933.61 and its 200 day simple moving average is $966.60.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, September 24th. The retailer reported $6.75 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $6.54 by $0.21. The firm had revenue of $95.72 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $94.97 billion. Costco Wholesale had a return on equity of 27.60% and a net margin of 3.04%. On average, research analysts anticipate that Costco Wholesale will post 22.8 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Bank of America Corp DE bought a new position in shares of Costco Wholesale in the second quarter worth about $6,781,946,000. Diamant Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 99,278.0% during the 1st quarter. Diamant Asset Management Inc. now owns 6,726,899 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $672,690,000 after purchasing an additional 6,720,130 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 31.7% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 23,901,594 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $22,359,224,000 after purchasing an additional 5,749,362 shares during the last quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC increased its position in Costco Wholesale by 838.9% during the 4th quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 6,125,405 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $5,282,182,000 after purchasing an additional 5,472,968 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc acquired a new position in Costco Wholesale during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $2,362,188,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.48% of the company’s stock.

Key Headlines Impacting Costco Wholesale

Here are the key news stories impacting Costco Wholesale this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Fourth-quarter comparable sales increased 9.4%, supported by higher customer traffic and larger average transactions, while digital sales also posted strong gains. U.S. comparable sales were even stronger at 10.7%, indicating continued domestic momentum. Costco’s Sales Momentum Builds as Q4 Traffic and Ticket Rise
• Positive Sentiment: Costco continues to gain share in fresh food, particularly bakery and meat, increasing its competitive threat to traditional grocery retailers. Costco continues to gain momentum in fresh food
• Positive Sentiment: Membership-fee revenue rose approximately 11% to $5.907 billion in fiscal 2026. Record executive-membership penetration and growing digital sign-ups strengthen Costco’s recurring, high-margin revenue base. Costco Collects More Membership Fees
• Positive Sentiment: Reported quarterly revenue of $95.72 billion and EPS of $6.75 exceeded consensus expectations, while fiscal-year sales rose 11.2%. Analysts point to membership growth, warehouse expansion and improving digital engagement as longer-term drivers. COST Q3 Deep Dive
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst opinion remains mixed. William Blair and Argus maintained bullish ratings, while RBC kept a Sector Perform view; valuation models nevertheless imply additional long-term upside. Analyst Maintains Buy on Costco
• Negative Sentiment: At least eight research firms lowered price targets after the earnings beat, and Daiwa reduced its target to $950 while retaining a Neutral rating. With COST trading at roughly 44.5 times earnings and below its 52-week high, investors may remain cautious about valuation despite strong fundamentals. Analysts Cut Costco Price Targets After a Q4 Beat

Costco Wholesale Company Profile

Costco Wholesale Corporation operates a membership-based warehouse retail business under the Costco name. The company sells a broad selection of merchandise, including groceries, fresh foods, beverages, appliances, electronics, furniture, apparel, jewelry, hardware, and seasonal products. It also offers services such as gasoline, pharmacies, optical departments, hearing-aid centers, food courts, travel services, and business delivery in selected markets.

Costco markets many products under its private-label Kirkland Signature brand and sells merchandise through warehouse locations and e-commerce platforms.