Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) Shares Down 0.2% After Insider Selling

Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) shares were down 0.2% on Thursday following insider selling activity. The company traded as low as $873.43 and last traded at $876.94. Approximately 216,531 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 89% from the average daily volume of 1,956,878 shares. The stock had previously closed at $878.53.

Specifically, EVP Claudine Adamo sold 3,200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $888.99, for a total value of $2,844,768.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 8,630 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,671,983.70. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on COST. Roth Mkm raised their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $676.00 to $755.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Redburn Atlantic cut Costco Wholesale from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $860.00 to $890.00 in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $915.00 to $925.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, September 6th. StockNews.com cut Costco Wholesale from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $850.00 to $975.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note 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. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $883.04.

Costco Wholesale Trading Down 0.2 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a current ratio of 0.94. The company has a 50 day moving average of $872.91 and a two-hundred day moving average of $819.85. The stock has a market cap of $388.77 billion, a PE ratio of 54.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.38 and a beta of 0.80.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, September 26th. The retailer reported $5.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.05 by $0.10. Costco Wholesale had a return on equity of 31.30% and a net margin of 2.90%. The company had revenue of $79.70 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $79.91 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $4.86 EPS. Costco Wholesale’s revenue was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 17.74 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Costco Wholesale Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 9th. Investors of record on Friday, July 26th were issued a $1.16 dividend. This represents a $4.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.53%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, July 26th. Costco Wholesale’s payout ratio is 28.75%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Costco Wholesale

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Czech National Bank grew its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 6.9% in the third quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 90,312 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $80,063,000 after purchasing an additional 5,799 shares in the last quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB purchased a new stake in shares of Costco Wholesale in the third quarter valued at approximately $42,896,000. Boltwood Capital Management grew its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 13.8% in the third quarter. Boltwood Capital Management now owns 899 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $797,000 after purchasing an additional 109 shares in the last quarter. Trust Co. of Toledo NA OH grew its position in Costco Wholesale by 4.3% in the third quarter. Trust Co. of Toledo NA OH now owns 8,272 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $7,333,000 after acquiring an additional 344 shares during the period. Finally, Abacus Planning Group Inc. grew its position in Costco Wholesale by 3.8% in the third quarter. Abacus Planning Group Inc. now owns 2,139 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,896,000 after acquiring an additional 79 shares during the period. 68.48% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Costco Wholesale Company 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.