Costco Wholesale Corporation $COST Position Trimmed by Traphagen Investment Advisors LLC

Traphagen Investment Advisors LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST) by 4.9% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,831 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 94 shares during the quarter. Traphagen Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $1,813,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of COST. Bulwark Capital Corp purchased a new position in Costco Wholesale during the 2nd quarter valued at about $25,000. Anderson Financial Strategies LLC grew its stake in Costco Wholesale by 900.0% during the 1st quarter. Anderson Financial Strategies LLC now owns 40 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $38,000 after acquiring an additional 36 shares in the last quarter. eCIO Inc. purchased a new position in Costco Wholesale during the 1st quarter valued at about $48,000. Aspect Partners LLC grew its stake in Costco Wholesale by 24.4% during the 1st quarter. Aspect Partners LLC now owns 56 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $53,000 after acquiring an additional 11 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ransom Advisory Ltd purchased a new position in Costco Wholesale during the 1st quarter valued at about $61,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.48% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Costco Wholesale

In other news, EVP Teresa A. Jones sold 600 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $992.05, for a total transaction of $595,230.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 2,362 shares in the company, valued at $2,343,222.10. The trade was a 20.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Yoram Rubanenko sold 4,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the executive vice president 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 7,981 shares of company stock worth $7,588,685 over the last three months. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Citigroup lowered their price target on Costco Wholesale from $1,065.00 to $990.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, September 29th. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $1,130.00 price target on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research note on Friday, September 26th. Erste Group Bank cut Costco Wholesale from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 5th. DA Davidson reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $1,000.00 price target on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research note on Friday, September 26th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on Costco Wholesale from $1,225.00 to $1,130.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, September 26th. Nineteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,067.19.

Costco Wholesale Price Performance

Shares of Costco Wholesale stock opened at $914.80 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $405.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 50.24, a PEG ratio of 5.55 and a beta of 0.98. 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 stock has a 50 day moving average price of $952.43 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $971.37. Costco Wholesale Corporation has a 12-month low of $867.34 and a 12-month high of $1,078.23.

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

Costco Wholesale Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 1st were issued a dividend of $1.30 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 1st. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend 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.