Alley Investment Management Company LLC Has $21.28 Million Stock Holdings in Costco Wholesale Corporation $COST

Alley Investment Management Company LLC lowered its position in Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST) by 0.3% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 21,493 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 64 shares during the quarter. Costco Wholesale comprises 2.6% of Alley Investment Management Company LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 10th biggest position. Alley Investment Management Company LLC’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $21,277,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Costco Wholesale in the 1st quarter valued at $3,461,159,000. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC raised its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 418,980.3% during the second quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC now owns 2,359,422 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $2,335,686,000 after acquiring an additional 2,358,859 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 443,101 shares during the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI raised its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 84.0% during the first quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 812,188 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $768,114,000 after acquiring an additional 370,806 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 5.2% during the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,907,670 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $3,695,796,000 after acquiring an additional 191,985 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 68.48% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

COST has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Erste Group Bank downgraded Costco Wholesale from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 5th. Telsey Advisory Group reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $1,100.00 target price on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research report on Wednesday, September 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped 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 upped 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. Finally, Wolfe Research assumed coverage on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research report on Thursday, September 18th. They set a “peer perform” rating for the company. Eighteen investment 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.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,067.19.

Costco Wholesale Price Performance

Shares of COST stock opened at $925.63 on Wednesday. Costco Wholesale Corporation has a 12-month low of $867.16 and a 12-month high of $1,078.23. The firm has a market capitalization of $410.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 50.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.59 and a beta of 0.97. 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 fifty day moving average of $954.76 and a 200-day moving average of $971.40.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last announced 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 net margin of 2.94% and a return on equity of 30.09%. The company 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 earned $5.15 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 8.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Costco Wholesale Corporation will post 18.03 earnings per share for the current year.

Costco Wholesale Dividend Announcement

The business 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 of this dividend 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 is presently 28.56%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Teresa A. Jones sold 600 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 20th. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,343,222.10. This represents a 20.26% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Yoram Rubanenko sold 4,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $974.96, for a total transaction of $3,899,840.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 5,774 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,629,419.04. The trade was a 40.92% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Costco Wholesale 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.