626 Financial LLC Sells 48 Shares of Costco Wholesale Corporation $COST

626 Financial LLC cut its stake in Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST) by 11.2% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 381 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 48 shares during the period. 626 Financial LLC’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $377,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of COST. Fishman Jay A Ltd. MI lifted its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 3.5% in the 2nd quarter. Fishman Jay A Ltd. MI now owns 16,888 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $16,718,000 after acquiring an additional 575 shares during the last quarter. Personal CFO Solutions LLC grew its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 12.4% during the 1st quarter. Personal CFO Solutions LLC now owns 1,519 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,436,000 after purchasing an additional 167 shares during the last quarter. F&V Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Costco Wholesale in the 1st quarter worth about $236,000. Graybill Wealth Management LTD. bought a new stake in Costco Wholesale in the first quarter worth about $3,095,000. Finally, Rossmore Private Capital boosted its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 0.9% during the first quarter. Rossmore Private Capital now owns 6,687 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $6,325,000 after buying an additional 62 shares during the period. 68.48% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on COST. Telsey Advisory Group reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $1,100.00 price target on shares of Costco Wholesale in a report on Wednesday, September 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $1,160.00 to $1,050.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, September 26th. Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $1,130.00 target price on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research note on Friday, September 26th. Erste Group Bank lowered shares of Costco Wholesale from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 5th. Finally, Wolfe Research began coverage on shares of Costco Wholesale in a report on Thursday, September 18th. They issued a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Nineteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,067.19.

Costco Wholesale Price Performance

COST opened at $910.94 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $403.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 50.02, a PEG ratio of 5.55 and a beta of 0.98. 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 Corporation has a 12-month low of $867.34 and a 12-month high of $1,078.23. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $953.08 and its 200-day simple moving average is $972.16.

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

Costco Wholesale Announces Dividend

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

Insider Activity at Costco Wholesale

In related news, EVP Teresa A. Jones sold 600 shares of Costco Wholesale 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. This trade represents a 20.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Russell D. Miller sold 3,381 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $915.00, for a total value of $3,093,615.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 9,740 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,912,100. This represents a 25.77% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 7,981 shares of company stock valued at $7,588,685 over the last ninety days. 0.18% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.