Signature Wealth Management Partners LLC Takes Position in Costco Wholesale Corporation $COST

Signature Wealth Management Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 207 shares of the retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $205,000.

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

Costco Wholesale Trading Down 0.2%

Costco Wholesale stock opened at $915.38 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $953.54 and a 200 day moving average of $971.61. The firm has a market capitalization of $405.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 50.27, a P/E/G ratio of 5.55 and a beta of 0.98. Costco Wholesale Corporation has a 12-month low of $867.34 and a 12-month high of $1,078.23. The company has a current ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last released 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 company had revenue of $86.16 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $86.01 billion. Costco Wholesale had a net margin of 2.94% and a return on equity of 30.09%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 8.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $5.15 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Costco Wholesale Corporation will post 18.03 earnings per share for the current year.

Costco Wholesale Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Yoram Rubanenko sold 4,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $974.96, for a total value of $3,899,840.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 5,774 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,629,419.04. This represents a 40.92% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Russell D. Miller sold 3,381 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $915.00, for a total transaction of $3,093,615.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 9,740 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,912,100. This represents a 25.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 7,981 shares of company stock valued at $7,588,685. 0.18% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

COST has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $1,130.00 price target on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research note on Friday, September 26th. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,137.00 to $1,140.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, September 26th. Roth Capital set a $907.00 price target on shares of Costco Wholesale and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, September 26th. Erste Group Bank cut shares of Costco Wholesale from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 5th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research note on Saturday, September 27th. Nineteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,067.19.

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.