Wealth Advisors Northwest LLC Grows Stock Holdings in Costco Wholesale Corporation $COST

Wealth Advisors Northwest LLC increased its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST) by 12.3% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 555 shares of the retailer’s stock after buying an additional 61 shares during the period. Wealth Advisors Northwest LLC’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $549,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of COST. Bulwark Capital Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Costco Wholesale in the second quarter valued at about $25,000. Anderson Financial Strategies LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 900.0% in the first quarter. Anderson Financial Strategies LLC now owns 40 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 36 shares in the last quarter. eCIO Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Costco Wholesale in the first quarter valued at about $48,000. Aspect Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 24.4% in the first quarter. Aspect Partners LLC now owns 56 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $53,000 after purchasing an additional 11 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ransom Advisory Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Costco Wholesale in the first quarter valued at about $61,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.48% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Yoram Rubanenko sold 4,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $974.96, for a total transaction of $3,899,840.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 5,774 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,629,419.04. This represents a 40.92% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Russell D. Miller sold 3,381 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 9,740 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,912,100. The trade was a 25.77% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 7,981 shares of company stock valued at $7,588,685. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

COST has been the topic of several recent research reports. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $1,130.00 price target on shares of Costco Wholesale in a report on Friday, September 26th. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price objective on shares of 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. Roth Capital set a $907.00 price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, September 26th. DA Davidson reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $1,000.00 price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research note on Friday, September 26th. Finally, Evercore ISI reduced their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,060.00 to $1,025.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, September 26th. Nineteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Costco Wholesale presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,066.23.

Costco Wholesale Stock Performance

Shares of COST stock opened at $942.89 on Friday. Costco Wholesale Corporation has a one year low of $867.34 and a one year high of $1,078.23. 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 company has a 50 day moving average price of $952.50 and a 200 day moving average price of $971.48. The firm has a market capitalization of $418.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 51.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.55 and a beta of 0.98.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, September 25th. The retailer reported $5.87 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 analyst estimates of $86.01 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $5.15 earnings per share. Costco Wholesale’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Costco Wholesale Corporation will post 18.03 EPS for the current year.

Costco Wholesale Dividend Announcement

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

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.