Skyline Advisors Inc. Sells 47 Shares of Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)

Skyline Advisors Inc. trimmed its position in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) by 3.0% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 1,503 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 47 shares during the quarter. Costco Wholesale accounts for about 0.6% of Skyline Advisors Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 25th largest holding. Skyline Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $1,421,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Stanich Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Costco Wholesale during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $214,000. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 2.7% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 9,739,175 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $8,901,249,000 after acquiring an additional 252,118 shares during the period. RW Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 21.3% in the 4th quarter. RW Investment Management LLC now owns 5,624 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $5,153,000 after buying an additional 989 shares during the period. AMJ Financial Wealth Management boosted its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 2.6% in the 4th quarter. AMJ Financial Wealth Management now owns 10,536 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $9,654,000 after buying an additional 270 shares during the period. Finally, Marks Group Wealth Management Inc boosted its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 31.2% in the 4th quarter. Marks Group Wealth Management Inc now owns 1,002 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $918,000 after buying an additional 238 shares during the period. 68.48% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP James C. Klauer sold 4,000 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $981.07, for a total transaction of $3,924,280.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 43,994 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $43,161,193.58. The trade was a 8.33% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Claudine Adamo sold 900 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $922.56, for a total transaction of $830,304.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 6,987 shares in the company, valued at $6,445,926.72. The trade was a 11.41% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 11,000 shares of company stock valued at $10,825,205. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently commented on the stock. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,075.00 to $1,125.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, March 7th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $1,035.00 target price on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research note on Thursday, May 29th. Telsey Advisory Group reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $1,100.00 target price on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research note on Tuesday, June 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,065.00 to $1,070.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,070.00 to $1,075.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 29th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-one have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,035.32.

Costco Wholesale Price Performance

Shares of Costco Wholesale stock opened at $996.78 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $442.05 billion, a PE ratio of 58.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.15 and a beta of 1.00. Costco Wholesale Co. has a 12-month low of $793.00 and a 12-month high of $1,078.24. 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’s fifty day simple moving average is $996.91 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $980.41.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 29th. The retailer reported $4.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.24 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $63.21 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $62.93 billion. Costco Wholesale had a net margin of 2.93% and a return on equity of 32.31%. The company’s revenue was up 8.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $3.78 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 18.03 EPS for the current year.

Costco Wholesale Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 2nd were paid a dividend of $1.30 per share. This is a positive change from Costco Wholesale’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.16. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 2nd. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.52%. Costco Wholesale’s payout ratio is presently 29.50%.

Costco Wholesale Company 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.