Precedent Wealth Partners LLC Raises Stock Holdings in Costco Wholesale Corporation $COST

Precedent Wealth Partners LLC increased its position in Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST) by 2.9% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 492 shares of the retailer’s stock after purchasing an additional 14 shares during the period. Precedent Wealth Partners LLC’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $487,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in COST. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Costco Wholesale by 1.0% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 42,644,711 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $40,332,515,000 after purchasing an additional 443,101 shares during the period. Alliancebernstein L.P. increased its position in Costco Wholesale by 0.4% during the 1st quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 4,332,009 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $4,097,127,000 after purchasing an additional 18,045 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. increased its position in Costco Wholesale by 5.2% during the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,907,670 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $3,695,796,000 after purchasing an additional 191,985 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in Costco Wholesale during the 1st quarter valued at $3,461,159,000. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC increased its position in Costco Wholesale by 3.9% during the 1st quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 3,357,630 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $3,175,579,000 after purchasing an additional 125,441 shares during the period. 68.48% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Costco Wholesale news, EVP Teresa A. Jones sold 600 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $992.05, for a total value of $595,230.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 2,362 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,343,222.10. The trade was a 20.26% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Yoram Rubanenko sold 4,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $974.96, for a total value of $3,899,840.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 5,774 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,629,419.04. This trade represents a 40.92% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 7,981 shares of company stock valued at $7,588,685. 0.18% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have issued reports on COST shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,160.00 to $1,050.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, September 26th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,333.00 to $1,418.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 26th. Argus boosted 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 report on Monday, September 29th. DA Davidson restated a “neutral” rating and set a $1,000.00 target price on shares of Costco Wholesale in a report on Friday, September 26th. Finally, Telsey Advisory Group restated an “outperform” rating and set a $1,100.00 target price on shares of Costco Wholesale in a report on Wednesday, September 24th. Nineteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,067.19.

Costco Wholesale Stock Performance

Shares of Costco Wholesale stock opened at $915.38 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $405.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 50.27, a PEG ratio of 5.55 and a beta of 0.98. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $953.54 and its 200 day moving average is $971.15. Costco Wholesale Corporation has a 1 year low of $867.34 and a 1 year high of $1,078.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a current ratio of 1.03 and a quick ratio of 0.55.

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

Costco Wholesale Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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 of this dividend 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%.

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.