Wealthfront Advisers LLC Purchases 2,673 Shares of Costco Wholesale Corporation $COST

Wealthfront Advisers LLC grew its holdings in Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST) by 4.5% during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 61,908 shares of the retailer’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,673 shares during the quarter. Wealthfront Advisers LLC’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $61,285,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in shares of Costco Wholesale during the 1st quarter worth about $3,461,159,000. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 418,980.3% in the second quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC now owns 2,359,422 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $2,335,686,000 after purchasing an additional 2,358,859 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 1.0% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 42,644,711 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $40,332,515,000 after acquiring an additional 443,101 shares in the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI increased its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 84.0% during the first quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 812,188 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $768,114,000 after acquiring an additional 370,806 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Valeo Financial Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 2,369.5% during the second quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC now owns 323,288 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $320,036,000 after acquiring an additional 310,197 shares during the period. 68.48% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Costco Wholesale

In related news, EVP Russell D. Miller sold 3,381 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $915.00, for a total transaction of $3,093,615.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 9,740 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,912,100. The trade was a 25.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Tiffany Marie Barbre sold 1,239 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $934.62, for a total value of $1,157,994.18. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 5,155 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,817,966.10. This represents a 19.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 7,920 shares of company stock valued at $7,373,175. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have weighed in on COST. Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,065.00 to $990.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, September 29th. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on Costco Wholesale from $1,225.00 to $1,130.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, September 26th. Roth Capital set a $907.00 price target on shares of Costco Wholesale and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, September 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased 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. Finally, Argus increased their target price on Costco Wholesale from $1,170.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, September 29th. Nineteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,068.15.

Costco Wholesale Price Performance

Shares of Costco Wholesale stock opened at $932.14 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $945.23 and a 200 day moving average of $972.11. Costco Wholesale Corporation has a 52 week low of $867.34 and a 52 week 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 has a market cap of $413.11 billion, a PE ratio of 51.19, a P/E/G ratio of 5.66 and a beta of 0.98.

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

Costco Wholesale Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 31st will be given a dividend of $1.30 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 31st. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.6%. Costco Wholesale’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.