Motco Boosts Stake in Costco Wholesale Corporation $COST

Motco raised its holdings in Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST) by 0.5% during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 15,157 shares of the retailer’s stock after purchasing an additional 71 shares during the quarter. Costco Wholesale accounts for 1.4% of Motco’s holdings, making the stock its 16th largest holding. Motco’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $14,242,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in COST. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 1.0% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 42,644,711 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $40,332,515,000 after buying an additional 443,101 shares during the period. Alliancebernstein L.P. raised its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 4,332,009 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $4,097,127,000 after buying an additional 18,045 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 5.2% in the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,907,670 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $3,695,796,000 after buying an additional 191,985 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Costco Wholesale in the 1st quarter valued at $3,461,159,000. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC raised its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 125,441 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.48% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on COST shares. Daiwa Capital Markets cut their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $1,005.00 to $947.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, September 30th. DA Davidson reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $1,000.00 price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale in a report on Friday, September 26th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $1,333.00 to $1,418.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 26th. Telsey Advisory Group reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $1,100.00 price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale in a report on Wednesday, September 24th. Finally, Citigroup lowered their target price on Costco Wholesale from $1,065.00 to $990.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, September 29th. Nineteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,068.15.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Teresa A. Jones sold 600 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 2,362 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,343,222.10. This represents a 20.26% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Tiffany Marie Barbre sold 1,239 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $934.62, for a total value of $1,157,994.18. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 5,155 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,817,966.10. This represents a 19.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 7,920 shares of company stock valued at $7,373,175. 0.18% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Costco Wholesale Trading Down 0.6%

COST opened at $924.16 on Wednesday. Costco Wholesale Corporation has a 12 month low of $867.34 and a 12 month high of $1,078.23. The stock has a market capitalization of $409.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 50.75, a PEG ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 0.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a current ratio of 1.03 and a quick ratio of 0.55. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $943.11 and a 200 day moving average price of $971.63.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last released its 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. The firm had revenue of $86.16 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $86.01 billion. Costco Wholesale had a return on equity of 30.09% and a net margin of 2.94%.Costco Wholesale’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $5.15 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Costco Wholesale Corporation will post 18.03 earnings per share 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 given 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 of this dividend is Friday, October 31st. Costco Wholesale’s dividend 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.