IMG Wealth Management Inc. Increases Position in Costco Wholesale Corporation $COST

IMG Wealth Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST) by 8.6% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 277 shares of the retailer’s stock after purchasing an additional 22 shares during the quarter. IMG Wealth Management Inc.’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $274,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in COST. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 12.3% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 19,825 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $18,165,000 after buying an additional 2,172 shares in the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 13.1% in the fourth quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,123 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,029,000 after buying an additional 130 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 12.6% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 8,628 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $8,160,000 after buying an additional 966 shares in the last quarter. Intact Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 89.7% in the first quarter. Intact Investment Management Inc. now owns 550 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $520,000 after buying an additional 260 shares in the last quarter. Finally, LVZ Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 7.6% in the first quarter. LVZ Inc. now owns 935 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $884,000 after buying an additional 66 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 68.48% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Mizuho lowered their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $975.00 to $950.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 9th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,137.00 to $1,140.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, September 26th. Argus increased their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,170.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, September 29th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,225.00 to $1,130.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, September 26th. Nineteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Costco Wholesale presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,068.15.

Costco Wholesale Trading Down 0.0%

NASDAQ:COST opened at $936.11 on Tuesday. 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 firm has a market cap of $414.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 51.41, a P/E/G ratio of 5.68 and a beta of 0.98. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $948.46 and a 200-day simple moving average of $971.70.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, September 25th. The retailer reported $5.87 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $86.16 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $86.01 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $5.15 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 8.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that Costco Wholesale Corporation will post 18.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Costco Wholesale Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 31st will be issued a $1.30 dividend. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 31st. Costco Wholesale’s dividend payout ratio is 28.56%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Costco Wholesale

In other Costco Wholesale news, EVP Russell D. Miller sold 3,381 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $915.00, for a total transaction of $3,093,615.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 9,740 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,912,100. This represents a 25.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Teresa A. Jones sold 600 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $992.05, for a total transaction of $595,230.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 2,362 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,343,222.10. This represents a 20.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.18% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.