Quent Capital LLC Buys 471 Shares of Costco Wholesale Corporation $COST

Quent Capital LLC lifted its stake in Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST) by 18.0% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,091 shares of the retailer’s stock after purchasing an additional 471 shares during the period. Quent Capital LLC’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $3,060,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 1.0% during the first 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. Alliancebernstein L.P. lifted its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 0.4% during the first quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 4,332,009 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $4,097,127,000 after acquiring an additional 18,045 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 5.2% during the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,907,670 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $3,695,796,000 after acquiring an additional 191,985 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in Costco Wholesale during the first quarter worth about $3,461,159,000. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC lifted its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 3.9% during the first quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 3,357,630 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $3,175,579,000 after acquiring an additional 125,441 shares in the last quarter. 68.48% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Costco Wholesale Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ COST opened at $915.38 on Friday. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $953.54 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $971.61. The company has a market cap of $405.95 billion, a PE ratio of 50.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.55 and a beta of 0.98. The company has a quick ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. Costco Wholesale Corporation has a twelve month low of $867.34 and a twelve month high of $1,078.23.

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

Costco Wholesale Dividend Announcement

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

COST has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Citigroup reduced their target price on Costco Wholesale from $1,065.00 to $990.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, September 29th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Costco Wholesale in a report on Saturday, September 27th. Argus boosted their price target on Costco Wholesale from $1,170.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, September 29th. Telsey Advisory Group restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $1,100.00 price target on shares of Costco Wholesale in a report on Wednesday, September 24th. Finally, DA Davidson restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $1,000.00 price target on shares of Costco Wholesale in a report on Friday, September 26th. Nineteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,067.19.

Insider Transactions at Costco Wholesale

In other news, EVP Yoram Rubanenko sold 4,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $974.96, for a total transaction of $3,899,840.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 5,774 shares in the company, valued at $5,629,419.04. The trade was a 40.92% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Russell D. Miller sold 3,381 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $915.00, for a total value of $3,093,615.00. Following the sale, 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. Insiders sold a total of 7,981 shares of company stock worth $7,588,685 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Costco Wholesale 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.