Bay Colony Advisory Group Inc d b a Bay Colony Advisors Boosts Stock Holdings in Costco Wholesale Corporation $COST

Bay Colony Advisory Group Inc d b a Bay Colony Advisors boosted its position in shares of Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST) by 12.7% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 4,299 shares of the retailer’s stock after buying an additional 486 shares during the period. Bay Colony Advisory Group Inc d b a Bay Colony Advisors’ holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $4,256,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on COST. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on Costco Wholesale from $1,225.00 to $1,130.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, September 26th. Truist Financial cut their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $1,042.00 to $1,033.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, September 26th. Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $1,130.00 target price on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research note on Friday, September 26th. Telsey Advisory Group reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $1,100.00 target price on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research note on Wednesday, September 24th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Nineteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,068.15.

Insider Buying and Selling at Costco Wholesale

In other news, EVP Russell D. Miller sold 3,381 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the executive vice president directly owned 9,740 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,912,100. This represents a 25.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Teresa A. Jones sold 600 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $992.05, for a total transaction of $595,230.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 2,362 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,343,222.10. This represents a 20.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 7,920 shares of company stock valued at $7,373,175 over the last ninety days. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Costco Wholesale Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:COST opened at $920.18 on Friday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $940.48 and a 200-day simple moving average of $970.92. Costco Wholesale Corporation has a one year low of $867.34 and a one year high of $1,078.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a current ratio of 1.03. The stock has a market capitalization of $407.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 50.53, a PEG ratio of 5.54 and a beta of 0.98.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last announced its 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. 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 analysts’ expectations of $86.01 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $5.15 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 8.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that Costco Wholesale Corporation will post 18.03 EPS for the current year.

Costco Wholesale Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 31st will be issued a $1.30 dividend. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 31st. Costco Wholesale’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.