Old North State Trust LLC Acquires 26 Shares of Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)

Old North State Trust LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 2,299 shares of the retailer’s stock after buying an additional 26 shares during the period. Costco Wholesale makes up about 1.7% of Old North State Trust LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 8th biggest position. Old North State Trust LLC’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $2,038,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. ERn Financial LLC increased its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 2.6% during the second quarter. ERn Financial LLC now owns 2,088 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,775,000 after buying an additional 52 shares during the period. Portside Wealth Group LLC increased its stake in Costco Wholesale by 5.6% in the second quarter. Portside Wealth Group LLC now owns 1,221 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,038,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares during the last quarter. Evolution Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Costco Wholesale in the second quarter valued at approximately $233,000. Chaney Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in Costco Wholesale by 5.1% in the second quarter. Chaney Capital Management Inc. now owns 995 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $846,000 after purchasing an additional 48 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Baron Silver Stevens Financial Advisors LLC increased its stake in Costco Wholesale by 20.3% in the second quarter. Baron Silver Stevens Financial Advisors LLC now owns 1,618 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,376,000 after purchasing an additional 273 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.48% of the company’s stock.

Costco Wholesale Trading Down 0.6 %

NASDAQ:COST opened at $988.39 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $924.72 and a 200-day simple moving average of $883.45. Costco Wholesale Co. has a 52-week low of $630.30 and a 52-week high of $1,007.80. The company has a market capitalization of $437.93 billion, a PE ratio of 59.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.05 and a beta of 0.82. The company has a quick ratio of 0.44, a current ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, September 26th. The retailer reported $5.15 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.05 by $0.10. Costco Wholesale had a net margin of 2.90% and a return on equity of 31.05%. The firm had revenue of $79.70 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $79.91 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $4.86 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts expect that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 17.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Costco Wholesale Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 1st were paid a dividend of $1.16 per share. This represents a $4.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.47%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 1st. Costco Wholesale’s dividend payout ratio is currently 28.00%.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Richard A. Galanti sold 1,416 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $894.68, for a total transaction of $1,266,866.88. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 27,400 shares in the company, valued at approximately $24,514,232. The trade was a 4.91 % 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, EVP Russell D. Miller sold 4,400 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $891.15, for a total value of $3,921,060.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 10,202 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,091,512.30. The trade was a 30.13 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 11,016 shares of company stock valued at $9,826,115 in the last 90 days. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have commented on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $935.00 to $1,000.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Redburn Atlantic lowered shares of Costco Wholesale from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price target for the company from $860.00 to $890.00 in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. StockNews.com downgraded Costco Wholesale from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Telsey Advisory Group reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $1,050.00 price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale in a report on Friday. Finally, Truist Financial downgraded Costco Wholesale from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $873.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Tuesday, September 24th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nineteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Costco Wholesale presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $957.07.

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.