Louisiana State Employees Retirement System lowered its position in Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST – Free Report) by 0.9% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 55,800 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 500 shares during the quarter. Costco Wholesale accounts for 1.0% of Louisiana State Employees Retirement System’s holdings, making the stock its 11th biggest holding. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $55,239,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.
A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in COST. Brighton Jones LLC raised its stake in Costco Wholesale by 12.3% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 19,825 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $18,165,000 after buying an additional 2,172 shares during the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC raised its stake in Costco Wholesale by 13.1% during the fourth quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,123 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,029,000 after buying an additional 130 shares during the last quarter. NewSquare Capital LLC raised its stake in Costco Wholesale by 354.3% during the first quarter. NewSquare Capital LLC now owns 159 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $151,000 after buying an additional 124 shares during the last quarter. Pallas Capital Advisors LLC raised its stake in Costco Wholesale by 17.2% during the first quarter. Pallas Capital Advisors LLC now owns 12,270 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $11,605,000 after buying an additional 1,800 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Tounjian Advisory Partners LLC purchased a new position in Costco Wholesale during the first quarter valued at $3,093,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.48% of the company’s stock.
Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades
A number of brokerages have issued reports on COST. Wolfe Research began coverage on Costco Wholesale in a research note on Thursday, September 18th. They set a “peer perform” rating for the company. Citigroup reduced their target price on Costco Wholesale from $1,065.00 to $990.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, September 29th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Costco Wholesale in a report on Saturday, September 27th. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price 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, Evercore ISI reduced their target price on Costco Wholesale from $1,060.00 to $1,025.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report 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 company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,067.19.
Costco Wholesale Stock Performance
Shares of COST opened at $914.80 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a current ratio of 1.03 and a quick ratio of 0.55. Costco Wholesale Corporation has a one year low of $867.34 and a one year high of $1,078.23. The firm has a market capitalization of $405.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 50.24, a PEG ratio of 5.52 and a beta of 0.98. The business has a fifty day moving average of $952.69 and a 200 day moving average of $971.76.
Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST – Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, September 25th. The retailer reported $5.87 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 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 company posted $5.15 earnings per share. Costco Wholesale’s revenue was up 8.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Costco Wholesale Corporation will post 18.03 EPS for the current year.
Costco Wholesale Announces Dividend
The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 15th. Investors of record on Friday, August 1st were issued a $1.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 1st. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.6%. Costco Wholesale’s payout ratio is presently 28.56%.
Insider Buying and Selling
In related news, EVP Teresa A. Jones sold 600 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 2,362 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,343,222.10. The trade was a 20.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Russell D. Miller sold 3,381 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction on Monday, September 29th. The stock was 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 7,981 shares of company stock valued at $7,588,685 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.
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.
Read More
- Five stocks we like better than Costco Wholesale
- Airline Stocks – Top Airline Stocks to Buy Now
- EA’s $55 Billion Deal Spurs a Shake-Up in the Gaming Sector
- Insider Trades May Not Tell You What You Think
- These Are the 3 Hottest Sectors for Q3 Earnings Growth
- How to invest in marijuana stocks in 7 steps
- AMD Could Double From Here—Thanks to Its Blockbuster OpenAI Deal
Want to see what other hedge funds are holding COST? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST – Free Report).
Receive News & Ratings for Costco Wholesale Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Costco Wholesale and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter.