Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) Shares Sold by 1900 Wealth Management LLC

1900 Wealth Management LLC trimmed its holdings in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) by 16.5% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 459 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 91 shares during the period. 1900 Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $434,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of COST. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 106,402.1% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 8,160,190 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $7,717,744,000 after buying an additional 8,152,528 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Costco Wholesale in the fourth quarter valued at about $5,182,316,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 74,796.3% in the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,521,893 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,394,465,000 after purchasing an additional 1,519,861 shares during the period. Leigh Baldwin & CO. LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Costco Wholesale in the fourth quarter valued at about $95,452,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 12.6% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 5,257,809 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $4,817,573,000 after purchasing an additional 587,303 shares during the period. 68.48% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on COST. Truist Financial upped their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $995.00 to $1,042.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, May 30th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $1,035.00 price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale in a report on Thursday, May 29th. Cfra Research raised shares of Costco Wholesale from a “hold” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 4th. Mizuho began coverage on shares of Costco Wholesale in a report on Friday, April 11th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $975.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,150.00 to $1,225.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, May 30th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-one have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,035.32.

Insider Activity at Costco Wholesale

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

Costco Wholesale Stock Down 1.2%

Shares of NASDAQ:COST opened at $990.21 on Monday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $1,000.43 and its 200 day moving average price is $981.10. The stock has a market cap of $439.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 58.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.15 and a beta of 1.00. Costco Wholesale Co. has a fifty-two week low of $793.00 and a fifty-two week 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.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 29th. The retailer reported $4.28 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.24 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $63.21 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $62.93 billion. Costco Wholesale had a net margin of 2.93% and a return on equity of 32.31%. The firm’s revenue was up 8.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $3.78 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 18.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Costco Wholesale Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 16th. Investors of record on Friday, May 2nd were issued a $1.30 dividend. This is a boost from Costco Wholesale’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.16. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 2nd. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.53%. Costco Wholesale’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 29.50%.

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.