Abacus Planning Group Inc. Purchases 33 Shares of Costco Wholesale Corporation $COST

Abacus Planning Group Inc. boosted its position in Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST) by 1.5% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 2,270 shares of the retailer’s stock after acquiring an additional 33 shares during the period. Abacus Planning Group Inc.’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $2,247,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Bulwark Capital Corp bought a new stake in shares of Costco Wholesale during the 2nd quarter valued at about $25,000. Anderson Financial Strategies LLC boosted its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 900.0% during the 1st quarter. Anderson Financial Strategies LLC now owns 40 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 36 shares in the last quarter. eCIO Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Costco Wholesale during the 1st quarter valued at about $48,000. Aspect Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 24.4% during the 1st quarter. Aspect Partners LLC now owns 56 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $53,000 after purchasing an additional 11 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ransom Advisory Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Costco Wholesale during the 1st quarter valued at about $61,000. Institutional investors own 68.48% of the company’s stock.

Costco Wholesale Stock Down 0.1%

Shares of Costco Wholesale stock opened at $916.77 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a current ratio of 1.03. The stock has a market capitalization of $406.57 billion, a PE ratio of 50.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.56 and a beta of 0.98. Costco Wholesale Corporation has a 52-week low of $867.34 and a 52-week high of $1,078.23. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $953.95 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $971.03.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, September 25th. The retailer reported $5.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.81 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $86.16 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $86.01 billion. Costco Wholesale had a net margin of 2.94% and a return on equity of 30.09%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $5.15 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Costco Wholesale Corporation will post 18.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Costco Wholesale Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 1st were issued a dividend of $1.30 per share. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 1st. Costco Wholesale’s payout ratio is presently 28.56%.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Russell D. Miller sold 3,381 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $915.00, for a total transaction of $3,093,615.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 9,740 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,912,100. The trade was a 25.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Teresa A. Jones sold 600 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $992.05, for a total transaction of $595,230.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 2,362 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,343,222.10. The trade was a 20.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 7,981 shares of company stock valued at $7,588,685 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on COST. Daiwa Capital Markets cut their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,005.00 to $947.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,225.00 to $1,130.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, September 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,160.00 to $1,050.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, September 26th. Truist Financial cut their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,042.00 to $1,033.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, September 26th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,137.00 to $1,140.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, September 26th. Eighteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,067.19.

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.