Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) Shares Sold by Stableford Capital II LLC

Stableford Capital II LLC decreased its position in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) by 5.0% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 1,514 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 79 shares during the period. Stableford Capital II LLC’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $1,109,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 1.0% during the third quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 28,855 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $16,302,000 after acquiring an additional 273 shares during the last quarter. Main Street Financial Solutions LLC boosted its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 4.7% during the fourth quarter. Main Street Financial Solutions LLC now owns 1,763 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,164,000 after acquiring an additional 79 shares during the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 28.9% during the fourth quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 272,288 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $179,822,000 after acquiring an additional 61,122 shares during the last quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 15.6% during the fourth quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 21,514 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $14,201,000 after acquiring an additional 2,909 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Rice Partnership LLC boosted its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 21.0% during the third quarter. Rice Partnership LLC now owns 11,741 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $6,633,000 after acquiring an additional 2,038 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.48% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have issued reports on COST shares. BMO Capital Markets reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $875.00 price target (up from $800.00) on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research note on Friday, May 31st. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on Costco Wholesale from $800.00 to $850.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 31st. Citigroup raised their price target on Costco Wholesale from $710.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, May 31st. Gordon Haskett lowered Costco Wholesale from a “buy” rating to an “accumulate” rating and set a $775.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Finally, Argus raised their price target on Costco Wholesale from $805.00 to $900.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 28th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $752.96.

Costco Wholesale Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:COST opened at $862.44 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $382.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 53.43, a PEG ratio of 5.76 and a beta of 0.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a current ratio of 0.94. Costco Wholesale Co. has a one year low of $516.54 and a one year high of $873.96. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $785.79 and its 200 day simple moving average is $729.10.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 30th. The retailer reported $3.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.70 by $0.08. Costco Wholesale had a return on equity of 30.02% and a net margin of 2.83%. The company had revenue of $58.52 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $58.16 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $3.43 EPS. Costco Wholesale’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 15.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Costco Wholesale Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 26th were issued a dividend of $1.16 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 25th. This is an increase from Costco Wholesale’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.02. This represents a $4.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.54%. Costco Wholesale’s payout ratio is currently 28.75%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Costco Wholesale news, EVP Russell D. Miller sold 785 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $722.86, for a total transaction of $567,445.10. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 10,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,228,600. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.18% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.