Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC Buys 299 Shares of Costco Wholesale Corporation $COST

Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC raised its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST) by 7.5% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 4,264 shares of the retailer’s stock after purchasing an additional 299 shares during the quarter. Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $4,222,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG increased its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 3.1% during the 2nd quarter. J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG now owns 48,707 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $48,206,000 after purchasing an additional 1,481 shares during the period. Lecap Asset Management Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Costco Wholesale during the 2nd quarter worth about $1,084,000. Kennebec Savings Bank increased its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 2.7% during the 2nd quarter. Kennebec Savings Bank now owns 1,355 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,341,000 after purchasing an additional 36 shares during the period. ASR Vermogensbeheer N.V. increased its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 7.0% during the 2nd quarter. ASR Vermogensbeheer N.V. now owns 91,658 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $90,729,000 after purchasing an additional 5,978 shares during the period. Finally, DMKC Advisory Services LLC increased its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 9.0% during the 2nd quarter. DMKC Advisory Services LLC now owns 303 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $289,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 68.48% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Costco Wholesale

In other news, EVP Yoram Rubanenko sold 4,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 directly owned 5,774 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,629,419.04. This represents a 40.92% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Russell D. Miller sold 3,381 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the executive vice president owned 9,740 shares in the company, valued at $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 a total of 7,981 shares of company stock worth $7,588,685 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently issued reports on COST. Roth Capital set a $907.00 price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, September 26th. Erste Group Bank downgraded shares of Costco Wholesale from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,333.00 to $1,418.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 26th. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,225.00 to $1,130.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, September 26th. Finally, Argus upped their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,170.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday. Eighteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Costco Wholesale has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,067.19.

Costco Wholesale Price Performance

NASDAQ:COST opened at $916.77 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $406.57 billion, a PE ratio of 50.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.56 and a beta of 0.98. Costco Wholesale Corporation has a 12 month low of $867.34 and a 12 month high of $1,078.23. The company has a quick ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $953.95 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $971.03.

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

Costco Wholesale Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 1st were given a $1.30 dividend. 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%.

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.