Stephens Inc. AR Sells 136 Shares of Costco Wholesale Corporation $COST

Stephens Inc. AR reduced its position in Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST) by 0.9% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 15,032 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 136 shares during the quarter. Stephens Inc. AR’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $14,881,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 12.3% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 19,825 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $18,165,000 after purchasing an additional 2,172 shares in the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC raised its position in Costco Wholesale by 13.1% during the 4th quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,123 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,029,000 after purchasing an additional 130 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 12.6% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 8,628 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $8,160,000 after acquiring an additional 966 shares in the last quarter. Weaver Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 6.0% during the 1st quarter. Weaver Capital Management LLC now owns 4,961 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $4,692,000 after purchasing an additional 282 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Register Financial Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 34.3% during the 1st quarter. Register Financial Advisors LLC now owns 580 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $549,000 after acquiring an additional 148 shares during the period. 68.48% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on COST shares. Citigroup reduced their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $1,065.00 to $990.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, September 29th. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research note on Thursday, October 9th. Roth Capital set a $907.00 target price on shares of Costco Wholesale and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, September 26th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Costco Wholesale in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Argus increased their target price on Costco Wholesale from $1,170.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, September 29th. Nineteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,068.15.

Costco Wholesale Stock Up 1.2%

Shares of COST opened at $936.33 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $414.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 51.42, a P/E/G ratio of 5.68 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 firm has a fifty day moving average price of $949.51 and a 200-day moving average price of $971.56. 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 quarterly earnings data on Thursday, September 25th. The retailer reported $5.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.81 by $0.06. The company 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 firm’s quarterly revenue was up 8.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $5.15 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Costco Wholesale Corporation will post 18.03 earnings per share for the current year.

Costco Wholesale Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 31st will be issued a $1.30 dividend. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 31st. Costco Wholesale’s dividend payout ratio is currently 28.56%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Costco Wholesale news, EVP Teresa A. Jones sold 600 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 in the company, valued at $2,343,222.10. This represents a 20.26% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Russell D. Miller sold 3,381 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 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. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Costco Wholesale 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.