Lafayette Investments Inc. Cuts Holdings in Costco Wholesale Corporation $COST

Lafayette Investments Inc. cut its position in Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST) by 4.1% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,868 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 250 shares during the period. Costco Wholesale accounts for 1.2% of Lafayette Investments Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 23rd largest holding. Lafayette Investments Inc.’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $5,809,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in COST. Vanguard Group Inc. raised 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 purchasing an additional 443,101 shares during the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. lifted its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 0.4% in the first quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 4,332,009 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $4,097,127,000 after acquiring an additional 18,045 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its position in Costco Wholesale by 5.2% during the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,907,670 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $3,695,796,000 after purchasing an additional 191,985 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in Costco Wholesale in the 1st quarter worth approximately $3,461,159,000. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC raised its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 3.9% in the 1st quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 3,357,630 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $3,175,579,000 after acquiring an additional 125,441 shares during the last quarter. 68.48% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on COST shares. Roth Capital set a $907.00 target price on Costco Wholesale and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, September 26th. Citigroup cut their price target on Costco Wholesale from $1,065.00 to $990.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, September 29th. Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $1,130.00 target price on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research note on Friday, September 26th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target 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. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Nineteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Costco Wholesale currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,068.15.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Costco Wholesale news, EVP Russell D. Miller sold 3,381 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $915.00, for a total value 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at 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 completion of the sale, 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. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Costco Wholesale Stock Down 0.0%

Shares of COST stock opened at $936.11 on Tuesday. 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 stock has a market cap of $414.86 billion, a PE ratio of 51.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.68 and a beta of 0.98. The business’s fifty day moving average is $948.46 and its 200-day moving average is $971.70. Costco Wholesale Corporation has a 1 year low of $867.34 and a 1 year high of $1,078.23.

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 the consensus estimate of $5.81 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $86.16 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $86.01 billion. Costco Wholesale had a net margin of 2.94% and a return on equity of 30.09%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 8.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $5.15 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that Costco Wholesale Corporation will post 18.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Costco Wholesale Announces Dividend

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

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.