Costco Wholesale Corporation $COST Stock Holdings Lifted by Sonata Capital Group Inc.

Sonata Capital Group Inc. raised its position in Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST) by 5.5% during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,877 shares of the retailer’s stock after purchasing an additional 98 shares during the quarter. Sonata Capital Group Inc.’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $1,858,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its position 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 during the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC lifted its position 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 during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position 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 during the last quarter. AssuredPartners Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 16.5% in the first quarter. AssuredPartners Investment Advisors LLC now owns 804 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $760,000 after buying an additional 114 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Embree Financial Group lifted its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 23.3% in the first quarter. Embree Financial Group now owns 1,057 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,000,000 after buying an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.48% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Teresa A. Jones sold 600 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $992.05, for a total value of $595,230.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 2,362 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,343,222.10. This represents a 20.26% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Russell D. Miller sold 3,381 shares of the company’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 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

COST has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Truist Financial reduced their price target on Costco Wholesale from $1,042.00 to $1,033.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, September 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on 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. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on Costco Wholesale in a research report on Thursday, September 18th. They issued a “peer perform” rating for the company. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Telsey Advisory Group reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $1,100.00 price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research report on Wednesday, September 24th. Nineteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,068.15.

Costco Wholesale Trading Up 0.8%

Shares of COST opened at $944.68 on Thursday. Costco Wholesale Corporation has a 12-month low of $867.34 and a 12-month 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. The firm has a market capitalization of $418.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 51.88, a P/E/G ratio of 5.69 and a beta of 0.98. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $946.70 and its 200 day moving average price is $971.28.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, September 25th. The retailer reported $5.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 analyst estimates of $86.01 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $5.15 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 8.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Costco Wholesale Corporation will post 18.03 earnings per share for the current year.

Costco Wholesale Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 14th. Investors of record on Friday, October 31st will be paid a dividend of $1.30 per share. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a 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.