Wealthedge Investment Advisors LLC Sells 223 Shares of Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST)

Wealthedge Investment Advisors LLC cut its holdings in Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST) by 45.1% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 272 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 223 shares during the period. Wealthedge Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $258,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 1.0% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 42,644,711 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $40,332,515,000 after acquiring an additional 443,101 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 106,402.1% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 8,160,190 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $7,717,744,000 after purchasing an additional 8,152,528 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 12.6% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 5,257,809 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $4,817,573,000 after purchasing an additional 587,303 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors increased its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 3,990,957 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $3,656,828,000 after purchasing an additional 18,897 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 5.2% during the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,907,670 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $3,695,796,000 after purchasing an additional 191,985 shares during the last quarter. 68.48% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently weighed in on COST. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $1,115.00 to $1,160.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Costco Wholesale from $1,150.00 to $1,225.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, May 30th. Evercore ISI cut their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,075.00 to $1,060.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, June 17th. Erste Group Bank lowered shares of Costco Wholesale from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 5th. Finally, Truist Financial raised their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $995.00 to $1,042.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, May 30th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,050.00.

Insider Transactions at Costco Wholesale

In other Costco Wholesale news, Director Susan L. Decker sold 547 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $980.00, for a total value of $536,060.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 11,531 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,300,380. This trade represents a 4.53% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Pierre Riel sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,014.15, for a total transaction of $2,028,300.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 8,210 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,326,171.50. This trade represents a 19.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 9,547 shares of company stock worth $9,472,510. 0.18% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Costco Wholesale Price Performance

COST stock opened at $972.04 on Friday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $972.25 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $985.92. Costco Wholesale Corporation has a 52 week low of $867.16 and a 52 week high of $1,078.23. The firm has a market capitalization of $431.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 55.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.06 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a quick ratio of 0.52, a current ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 29th. The retailer reported $4.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.24 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $63.21 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $62.93 billion. Costco Wholesale had a net margin of 2.92% and a return on equity of 30.48%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 8.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $3.78 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Costco Wholesale Corporation will post 18.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Costco Wholesale Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 1st were given a $1.30 dividend. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 1st. Costco Wholesale’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 29.50%.

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.