Covington Investment Advisors Inc. Sells 862 Shares of Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)

Covington Investment Advisors Inc. trimmed its position in shares of Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) by 9.0% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 8,694 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 862 shares during the period. Covington Investment Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $7,390,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Gilbert & Cook Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 57.3% in the 4th quarter. Gilbert & Cook Inc. now owns 626 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $413,000 after purchasing an additional 228 shares during the last quarter. Aveo Capital Partners LLC lifted its position in Costco Wholesale by 14.5% in the fourth quarter. Aveo Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,065 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $703,000 after buying an additional 135 shares during the last quarter. J. W. Coons Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Costco Wholesale by 2.0% during the fourth quarter. J. W. Coons Advisors LLC now owns 3,802 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $2,510,000 after buying an additional 75 shares during the period. KBC Group NV increased its position in Costco Wholesale by 12.1% during the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 77,282 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $51,013,000 after acquiring an additional 8,367 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jones Financial Companies Lllp raised its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 4.5% in the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 9,915 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $6,544,000 after acquiring an additional 426 shares during the period. 68.48% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $915.00 to $925.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on Costco Wholesale from $925.00 to $955.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, September 6th. Loop Capital upped their target price on Costco Wholesale from $975.00 to $1,005.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. Truist Financial lowered Costco Wholesale from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $873.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Tuesday, September 24th. Finally, Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $850.00 to $975.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 11th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Costco Wholesale presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $881.19.

Costco Wholesale Trading Down 1.8 %

COST opened at $885.62 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. The firm has a market cap of $392.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 54.87, a PEG ratio of 5.47 and a beta of 0.80. Costco Wholesale Co. has a 12 month low of $540.23 and a 12 month high of $923.83. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $870.67 and a 200-day moving average price of $817.28.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, September 26th. The retailer reported $5.15 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.05 by $0.10. Costco Wholesale had a net margin of 2.83% and a return on equity of 30.02%. The business had revenue of $79.70 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $79.91 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $4.86 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 16.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Costco Wholesale Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 9th. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 26th were paid a $1.16 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, July 26th. This represents a $4.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.52%. Costco Wholesale’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 28.75%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Richard A. Galanti sold 500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $874.05, for a total transaction of $437,025.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 22,900 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,015,745. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Costco Wholesale news, insider Daniel M. Hines sold 1,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $844.20, for a total transaction of $1,266,300.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 12,492 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,545,746.40. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Richard A. Galanti sold 500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $874.05, for a total transaction of $437,025.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 22,900 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,015,745. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 4,974 shares of company stock valued at $4,252,856. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by 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.