Syverson Strege & Co Boosts Stock Position in Costco Wholesale Corporation $COST

Syverson Strege & Co boosted its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST) by 243.8% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 1,162 shares of the retailer’s stock after purchasing an additional 824 shares during the period. Syverson Strege & Co’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $1,150,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Leeward Financial Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 47.3% in the second quarter. Leeward Financial Partners LLC now owns 7,799 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $7,720,000 after acquiring an additional 2,505 shares during the last quarter. 4WEALTH Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Costco Wholesale in the 2nd quarter worth about $339,000. Haven Private LLC boosted its stake in Costco Wholesale by 113.6% in the 2nd quarter. Haven Private LLC now owns 517 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $512,000 after purchasing an additional 275 shares in the last quarter. North Dallas Bank & Trust Co. bought a new position in Costco Wholesale in the 2nd quarter worth about $944,000. Finally, Nixon Capital LLC bought a new stake in Costco Wholesale during the 2nd quarter valued at about $277,000. 68.48% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on COST. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped 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. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their target price on 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. Argus boosted their price target on Costco Wholesale from $1,170.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, September 29th. Mizuho lowered their price target on Costco Wholesale from $975.00 to $950.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 9th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Nineteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Costco Wholesale presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,068.15.

Costco Wholesale Stock Down 0.9%

COST stock opened at $911.45 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $403.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 50.05, a P/E/G ratio of 5.54 and a beta of 0.98. 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 business’s 50-day moving average is $939.53 and its two-hundred day moving average is $970.45. Costco Wholesale Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $867.34 and a fifty-two week high of $1,078.23.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, September 25th. The retailer reported $5.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.81 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $86.16 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $86.01 billion. Costco Wholesale had a return on equity of 30.09% and a net margin of 2.94%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 8.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $5.15 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast 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 given a dividend of $1.30 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 31st. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.6%. Costco Wholesale’s payout ratio is presently 28.56%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Claudine Adamo sold 2,700 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, October 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $935.68, for a total value of $2,526,336.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 6,851 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,410,343.68. This trade represents a 28.27% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Tiffany Marie Barbre sold 1,239 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction on Friday, October 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $934.62, for a total value of $1,157,994.18. Following the transaction, the insider owned 5,155 shares in the company, valued at $4,817,966.10. This trade represents a 19.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 7,920 shares of company stock valued at $7,373,175. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

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.