JFS Wealth Advisors LLC Boosts Holdings in Costco Wholesale Corporation $COST

JFS Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST) by 0.8% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,613 shares of the retailer’s stock after acquiring an additional 22 shares during the period. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $2,587,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in COST. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in Costco Wholesale during the 1st quarter worth approximately $3,461,159,000. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC raised its stake in Costco Wholesale by 418,980.3% during the 2nd 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 period. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Costco Wholesale by 1.0% during the 1st 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 period. National Bank of Canada FI raised its stake in Costco Wholesale by 84.0% during the 1st 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 period. Finally, Valeo Financial Advisors LLC raised its stake in Costco Wholesale by 2,369.5% during the 2nd quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC now owns 323,288 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $320,036,000 after acquiring an additional 310,197 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 68.48% of the company’s stock.

Costco Wholesale Trading Down 1.4%

COST stock opened at $930.01 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. Costco Wholesale Corporation has a twelve month low of $867.34 and a twelve month high of $1,078.23. The stock has a market capitalization of $412.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 51.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.72 and a beta of 0.98. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $952.05 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $971.48.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, September 25th. The retailer reported $5.87 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.81 by $0.06. Costco Wholesale had a net margin of 2.94% and a return on equity of 30.09%. The business had revenue of $86.16 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $86.01 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $5.15 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 8.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that Costco Wholesale Corporation will post 18.03 earnings per share for the current year.

Costco Wholesale Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 1st were given a dividend of $1.30 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 1st. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.6%. Costco Wholesale’s payout ratio is 28.56%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently issued reports on COST. Mizuho reduced their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $975.00 to $950.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Citigroup reduced their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,065.00 to $990.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, September 29th. Argus lifted their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,170.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, September 29th. Roth Capital set a $907.00 price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, September 26th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,225.00 to $1,130.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, September 26th. Nineteen 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, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,066.23.

Insider Buying and Selling at Costco Wholesale

In other Costco Wholesale news, EVP Yoram Rubanenko sold 4,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $974.96, for a total transaction of $3,899,840.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 5,774 shares in the company, valued at $5,629,419.04. The trade was a 40.92% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction 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 the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $915.00, for a total transaction of $3,093,615.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 9,740 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,912,100. The trade was a 25.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 7,981 shares of company stock worth $7,588,685 over the last quarter. 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.