COST vs TGT
Costco Wholesale Corp /New (COST) and Target Corp (TGT) are both filed with the SEC under Retail-Variety Stores. COST is 5.5× TGT's size by market cap ($414.5B against $75.4B); COST trades at the higher fiscal-year P/E (51.3× against 20.4×); TGT reports the higher net margin (3.5% against 2.9%); COST grew sales faster over three years (+6.6% against -1.3%); and over the past year TGT returned +74.0% against COST's +0.5%.
| COST | TGT | |
|---|---|---|
| Last close | $945.47 | $163.18 |
| Market cap | $414.5B | $75.4B |
| P/E (FY) | 51.3× | 20.4× |
| P/S | 1.5× | 0.7× |
| EV/EBITDA | 31.6× | 10.6× |
| Operating margin | 3.8% | 4.9% |
| Net margin | 2.9% | 3.5% |
| Return on equity | 30.7% | 24.0% |
| Sales growth (3y) | +6.6% | -1.3% |
| EPS growth (3y) | +11.5% | +10.8% |
| Dividend yield | 0.5% | 2.7% |
| 1-year return | +0.5% | +74.0% |
Screener snapshot — prices as of 2026-08-28. Each side's last close is the most recent session the snapshot holds for that company, which can be an earlier one, and its 1-year return is measured to that close. Market caps struck on 2026-08-27. Last close, market cap and the 1-year return are price figures; every other row is computed over the company's latest filed fiscal year, and the two differ: COST FY2025 (ended 2025-08-31); TGT FY2026 (ended 2026-01-31).
Who holds them, and who has traded them
| COST | TGT | |
|---|---|---|
| Institutional holders (13F) | 4,201 | 1,825 |
| Insider buyers − sellers (180d) | -3 | -4 |
| Congressional trades disclosed (180d) | 3 | 0 |
| Executive-branch officials on file — trades disclosed (180d) | 14 | 7 |
Counts only. The congressional figures count transactions dated in the trailing 180 days and disclosed in STOCK Act periodic transaction reports; amounts are filed as ranges and are never summed. The executive-branch figures count the same window of transactions, and they are scoped to one roster. The officials OGE posts for direct download. Insider buyers − sellers counts distinct people filing open-market Form 4 purchases minus distinct people filing open-market sales over the trailing 180 days, capped at ±5.
COST vs TGT: common questions
- Is COST bigger than TGT?
- COST carries the larger market cap — $414.5B against $75.4B, both struck on 2026-08-27.
- Which trades at a higher P/E, COST or TGT?
- COST, at a fiscal-year 51.3× against 20.4× for TGT. Both are price ÷ latest full-year diluted earnings per share, not a trailing-twelve-month P/E.
- How have COST and TGT performed over the past year?
- TGT returned +74.0% and COST +0.5%, measured on the trailing calendar year to the last close.
- How many institutions hold COST and TGT?
- 4,201 13F filers report a position in COST and 1,825 in TGT, on the latest quarter in the panel.
- Are COST and TGT in the same industry?
- Both are filed with the SEC under Retail-Variety Stores, which is the classification this pairing is built on.
COST overview → · TGT overview → · COST institutional ownership → · TGT institutional ownership → · Congress and COST → · Executive branch and COST → · Executive branch and TGT →
More in Retail-Variety Stores: COST vs DG · COST vs DLTR · COST vs FIVE · COST vs WMT
Stock comparisons lists every pair this site publishes.
Source: SPZCO — https://spzco.com/vs/cost-vs-tgt