Schnieders Capital Management LLC Boosts Holdings in Costco Wholesale Corporation $COST

Schnieders Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST) by 2.2% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 8,502 shares of the retailer’s stock after acquiring an additional 182 shares during the quarter. Costco Wholesale accounts for approximately 1.5% of Schnieders Capital Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 17th largest holding. Schnieders Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $8,416,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Fishman Jay A Ltd. MI grew its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 3.5% during the second quarter. Fishman Jay A Ltd. MI now owns 16,888 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $16,718,000 after buying an additional 575 shares during the last quarter. Independent Solutions Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 0.3% during the 2nd quarter. Independent Solutions Wealth Management LLC now owns 20,638 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $20,430,000 after acquiring an additional 53 shares during the last quarter. Personal CFO Solutions LLC boosted its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 12.4% during the 1st quarter. Personal CFO Solutions LLC now owns 1,519 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,436,000 after acquiring an additional 167 shares during the period. Graybill Wealth Management LTD. bought a new position in Costco Wholesale in the 1st quarter valued at $3,095,000. Finally, Rossmore Private Capital grew its position in Costco Wholesale by 0.9% in the 1st quarter. Rossmore Private Capital now owns 6,687 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $6,325,000 after acquiring an additional 62 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 68.48% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently weighed in on COST. Daiwa Capital Markets decreased their target price on Costco Wholesale from $1,005.00 to $947.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, September 30th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,137.00 to $1,140.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, September 26th. Telsey Advisory Group reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $1,100.00 price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale in a report on Wednesday, September 24th. Erste Group Bank downgraded shares of Costco Wholesale from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 5th. Finally, DA Davidson reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $1,000.00 target price on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research report on Friday, September 26th. Nineteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,068.15.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Costco Wholesale news, EVP Teresa A. Jones sold 600 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 sale, the executive vice president owned 2,362 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,343,222.10. This trade represents a 20.26% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Russell D. Miller sold 3,381 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction on Monday, September 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $915.00, for a total value of $3,093,615.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 9,740 shares in the company, valued at $8,912,100. This represents a 25.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.18% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Costco Wholesale Stock Up 1.2%

Shares of Costco Wholesale stock opened at $936.33 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a current ratio of 1.03 and a quick ratio of 0.55. The stock has a market cap of $414.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 51.42, a PEG ratio of 5.68 and a beta of 0.98. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $949.51 and its two-hundred day moving average is $971.56. Costco Wholesale Corporation has a 1 year low of $867.34 and a 1 year high of $1,078.23.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, September 25th. The retailer reported $5.87 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.81 by $0.06. Costco Wholesale had a net margin of 2.94% and a return on equity of 30.09%. 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 business posted $5.15 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 8.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that Costco Wholesale Corporation will post 18.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Costco Wholesale Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 14th. Investors of record on Friday, October 31st will be paid a $1.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 31st. 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 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.