Prudent Man Advisors LLC Has $1.78 Million Stock Holdings in Costco Wholesale Corporation $COST

Prudent Man Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST) by 32.0% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 1,801 shares of the retailer’s stock after acquiring an additional 437 shares during the quarter. Prudent Man Advisors LLC’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $1,783,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 12.3% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 19,825 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $18,165,000 after buying an additional 2,172 shares during the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 13.1% in the fourth quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,123 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,029,000 after buying an additional 130 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 12.6% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 8,628 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $8,160,000 after buying an additional 966 shares during the last quarter. Investment Advisory Services Inc. TX ADV lifted its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 2.4% in the first quarter. Investment Advisory Services Inc. TX ADV now owns 2,731 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $2,583,000 after buying an additional 64 shares during the last quarter. Finally, PDS Planning Inc lifted its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 9.0% in the first quarter. PDS Planning Inc now owns 2,882 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $2,726,000 after buying an additional 238 shares during the last quarter. 68.48% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Costco Wholesale

In other news, EVP Teresa A. Jones sold 600 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $992.05, for a total value of $595,230.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 2,362 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,343,222.10. This represents a 20.26% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Russell D. Miller sold 3,381 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 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. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 7,920 shares of company stock worth $7,373,175. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Evercore ISI reduced their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,060.00 to $1,025.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, September 26th. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research note on Thursday, October 9th. Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $1,130.00 price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research note on Friday, September 26th. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,225.00 to $1,130.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, September 26th. Finally, Telsey Advisory Group reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $1,100.00 target price on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research note on Wednesday, September 24th. Nineteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,068.15.

Costco Wholesale Price Performance

NASDAQ:COST opened at $932.14 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $413.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 51.19, a PEG ratio of 5.66 and a beta of 0.98. Costco Wholesale Corporation has a one year low of $867.34 and a one year high of $1,078.23. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $945.23 and a 200 day moving average price of $972.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a current ratio of 1.03 and a quick ratio of 0.55.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last released its earnings results on Thursday, September 25th. The retailer reported $5.87 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.81 by $0.06. The firm 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 quarterly revenue was up 8.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $5.15 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Costco Wholesale Corporation will post 18.03 earnings per share for the current year.

Costco Wholesale Dividend Announcement

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

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.