Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) Shares Sold by WFA of San Diego LLC

WFA of San Diego LLC cut its position in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) by 76.6% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 547 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 1,795 shares during the period. WFA of San Diego LLC’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $295,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in COST. Inlet Private Wealth LLC grew its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 0.3% during the second quarter. Inlet Private Wealth LLC now owns 5,535 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $2,980,000 after buying an additional 18 shares in the last quarter. ETF Store Inc. boosted its position in Costco Wholesale by 3.6% during the second quarter. ETF Store Inc. now owns 522 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $289,000 after acquiring an additional 18 shares during the last quarter. TrinityPoint Wealth LLC grew its stake in Costco Wholesale by 0.9% during the 2nd quarter. TrinityPoint Wealth LLC now owns 2,134 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,149,000 after acquiring an additional 18 shares in the last quarter. Veery Capital LLC raised its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 2.4% in the 2nd quarter. Veery Capital LLC now owns 812 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $437,000 after acquiring an additional 19 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Towerpoint Wealth LLC lifted its stake in Costco Wholesale by 2.8% in the 2nd quarter. Towerpoint Wealth LLC now owns 696 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $375,000 after purchasing an additional 19 shares in the last quarter. 66.31% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Costco Wholesale Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of Costco Wholesale stock traded up $3.36 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $580.51. 209,731 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,799,733. The firm has a market cap of $257.01 billion, a PE ratio of 40.76, a PEG ratio of 4.31 and a beta of 0.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a quick ratio of 0.57 and a current ratio of 1.07. Costco Wholesale Co. has a 1 year low of $447.90 and a 1 year high of $599.89. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $564.00 and its 200 day moving average is $543.03.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, September 26th. The retailer reported $4.86 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.79 by $0.07. Costco Wholesale had a return on equity of 28.10% and a net margin of 2.60%. The company had revenue of $78.94 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $77.72 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $4.20 EPS. Costco Wholesale’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 15.71 earnings per share for the current year.

Costco Wholesale Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 17th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 3rd were issued a dividend of $1.02 per share. This represents a $4.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.70%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, November 2nd. Costco Wholesale’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 28.81%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Costco Wholesale news, CFO Richard A. Galanti sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $566.09, for a total value of $1,132,180.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 25,412 shares in the company, valued at $14,385,479.08. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, EVP Claudine Adamo sold 2,565 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $548.92, for a total transaction of $1,407,979.80. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 8,128 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,461,621.76. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Richard A. Galanti sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $566.09, for a total transaction of $1,132,180.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 25,412 shares in the company, valued at $14,385,479.08. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 19,265 shares of company stock worth $10,797,118 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.22% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on COST. DA Davidson upped their price target on Costco Wholesale from $478.00 to $570.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 27th. Loop Capital raised their target price on Costco Wholesale from $615.00 to $630.00 in a research note on Thursday, October 5th. Truist Financial reissued a “buy” rating and set a $619.00 price target on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research report on Thursday, October 5th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $510.00 to $525.00 in a research report on Thursday, October 5th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $620.00 to $605.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, November 2nd. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-one have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $586.43.

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.