Fulcrum Capital LLC Lowers Stock Position in Costco Wholesale Corporation $COST

Fulcrum Capital LLC lessened its holdings in Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST) by 7.4% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,406 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 112 shares during the period. Fulcrum Capital LLC’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $1,392,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Financial Connections Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 975.0% during the second quarter. Financial Connections Group Inc. now owns 43 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $42,000 after buying an additional 39 shares during the period. Invictus Private Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 0.6% during the second quarter. Invictus Private Wealth LLC now owns 52,492 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $51,964,000 after buying an additional 338 shares during the period. Conning Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 1.3% during the 2nd quarter. Conning Inc. now owns 6,520 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $6,454,000 after purchasing an additional 85 shares during the last quarter. Trust Co. of Toledo NA OH lifted its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 1.9% during the 2nd quarter. Trust Co. of Toledo NA OH now owns 8,800 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $8,711,000 after purchasing an additional 165 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SLT Holdings LLC lifted its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 30.0% during the 2nd quarter. SLT Holdings LLC now owns 676 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $669,000 after purchasing an additional 156 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.48% of the company’s stock.

Costco Wholesale Stock Performance

Shares of Costco Wholesale stock opened at $930.01 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $952.05 and a 200 day moving average price of $971.77. The firm has a market capitalization of $412.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 51.07, a PEG ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 0.98. Costco Wholesale Corporation has a 52 week low of $867.34 and a 52 week high of $1,078.23. 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 (NASDAQ:COST) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, September 25th. The retailer reported $5.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.81 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $86.16 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $86.01 billion. Costco Wholesale had a net margin of 2.94% and a return on equity of 30.09%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 8.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $5.15 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Costco Wholesale Corporation will post 18.03 EPS for the current year.

Costco Wholesale Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Teresa A. Jones sold 600 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $992.05, for a total value of $595,230.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 2,362 shares in the company, valued at $2,343,222.10. This trade represents a 20.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Russell D. Miller sold 3,381 shares of the firm’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 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 $8,912,100. This represents a 25.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 7,981 shares of company stock worth $7,588,685 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on COST. Evercore ISI decreased their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $1,060.00 to $1,025.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, September 26th. Wolfe Research started coverage on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research report on Thursday, September 18th. They set a “peer perform” rating for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,160.00 to $1,050.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, September 26th. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,137.00 to $1,140.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, September 26th. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $1,225.00 to $1,130.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, September 26th. Nineteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Costco Wholesale presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,066.23.

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.