Insider Selling: Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) EVP Sells $3,093,615.00 in Stock

Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST) EVP Russell Miller sold 3,381 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $915.00, for a total transaction of $3,093,615.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 9,740 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,912,100. This represents a 25.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website.

Costco Wholesale Price Performance

COST stock opened at $915.38 on Friday. Costco Wholesale Corporation has a 12 month low of $867.34 and a 12 month high of $1,078.23. The company has a current ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $953.54 and a 200 day moving average price of $971.15. The stock has a market cap of $405.95 billion, a PE ratio of 50.27, a P/E/G ratio of 5.55 and a beta of 0.98.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, September 25th. The retailer reported $5.87 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.81 by $0.06. Costco Wholesale had a net margin of 2.94% and a return on equity of 30.09%. The firm had revenue of $86.16 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $86.01 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $5.15 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Costco Wholesale Corporation will post 18.03 earnings per share for the current year.

Costco Wholesale Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 15th. Investors of record on Friday, August 1st were paid a dividend of $1.30 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 1st. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.6%. Costco Wholesale’s payout ratio is currently 28.56%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

COST has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. DA Davidson reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $1,000.00 price target on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research note on Friday, September 26th. Evercore ISI decreased 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 report on Friday, September 26th. Erste Group Bank lowered shares of Costco Wholesale from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,333.00 to $1,418.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 26th. Finally, Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $1,130.00 price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale in a report on Friday, September 26th. Nineteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,067.19.

Institutional Trading of Costco Wholesale

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Costco Wholesale in the 2nd quarter valued at $5,692,035,000. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Costco Wholesale in the 1st quarter valued at $3,461,159,000. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 418,980.3% in the 2nd quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC now owns 2,359,422 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $2,335,686,000 after acquiring an additional 2,358,859 shares during the last quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 96,316.6% in the 2nd quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,378,758 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,364,888,000 after acquiring an additional 1,377,328 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 1.7% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 43,356,271 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $42,920,107,000 after acquiring an additional 711,560 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.48% 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.