2,296 Shares in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) Acquired by AMJ Financial Wealth Management

AMJ Financial Wealth Management purchased a new stake in shares of Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 2,296 shares of the retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $1,236,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Morgan Stanley lifted its position in Costco Wholesale by 18.0% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 8,634,627 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $3,941,708,000 after acquiring an additional 1,315,174 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 1.4% in the first quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,210,385 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $4,069,186,000 after purchasing an additional 111,505 shares during the last quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 118,320.2% during the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 7,396,524 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $3,376,513,000 after purchasing an additional 7,390,278 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its position in Costco Wholesale by 4.6% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 5,851,678 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $3,150,426,000 after buying an additional 256,155 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in Costco Wholesale in the 4th quarter worth approximately $2,328,844,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 66.31% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have commented on the stock. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $595.00 to $600.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, September 8th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $651.00 to $652.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 27th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $560.00 to $640.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Costco Wholesale from $510.00 to $525.00 in a research note on Thursday, October 5th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on Costco Wholesale from $575.00 to $595.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 13th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-one have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $586.43.

Costco Wholesale Price Performance

COST stock traded up $2.78 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $579.93. The stock had a trading volume of 438,931 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,800,827. Costco Wholesale Co. has a 52-week low of $447.90 and a 52-week high of $599.89. The company has a current ratio of 1.07, a quick ratio of 0.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $564.00 and its 200 day simple moving average is $543.03. The company has a market cap of $256.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.31 and a beta of 0.78.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, September 26th. The retailer reported $4.86 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.79 by $0.07. Costco Wholesale had a net margin of 2.60% and a return on equity of 28.10%. The firm had revenue of $78.94 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $77.72 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $4.20 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 15.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Costco Wholesale Announces Dividend

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

Insider Activity at Costco Wholesale

In other Costco Wholesale news, EVP Russell D. Miller sold 4,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $557.75, for a total transaction of $2,509,875.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 10,785 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,015,333.75. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In related news, VP Patrick J. Callans sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $553.76, for a total value of $1,384,400.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 67,934 shares in the company, valued at $37,619,131.84. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Russell D. Miller sold 4,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $557.75, for a total value of $2,509,875.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 10,785 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,015,333.75. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 19,265 shares of company stock valued at $10,797,118. 0.22% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Costco Wholesale 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.