Costco Wholesale Corporation $COST Shares Sold by Cercano Management LLC

Cercano Management LLC lowered its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST) by 64.1% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 712 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 1,273 shares during the period. Cercano Management LLC’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $705,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. Bulwark Capital Corp bought a new stake in shares of Costco Wholesale during the second quarter valued at about $25,000. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA acquired a new position in Costco Wholesale during the 2nd quarter valued at about $31,000. Anderson Financial Strategies LLC raised its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 900.0% during the 1st quarter. Anderson Financial Strategies LLC now owns 40 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $38,000 after buying an additional 36 shares in the last quarter. Financial Connections Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 975.0% in the 2nd quarter. Financial Connections Group Inc. now owns 43 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $42,000 after acquiring an additional 39 shares during the period. Finally, Frazier Financial Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 72.0% in the second quarter. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC now owns 43 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $43,000 after acquiring an additional 18 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 68.48% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently commented on COST shares. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Costco Wholesale in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Daiwa Capital Markets dropped their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $1,005.00 to $947.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, September 30th. BTIG Research assumed coverage on Costco Wholesale in a report on Tuesday, October 14th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $1,115.00 price objective for the company. DA Davidson reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $1,000.00 target price on shares of Costco Wholesale in a report on Friday, September 26th. Finally, Evercore ISI cut their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,060.00 to $1,025.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, September 26th. Nineteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,063.88.

Costco Wholesale Trading Down 0.2%

Shares of COST opened at $922.98 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $934.93 and its 200 day moving average price is $966.55. The stock has a market capitalization of $409.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 50.69, a P/E/G ratio of 5.54 and a beta of 0.98. Costco Wholesale Corporation has a 1-year low of $871.71 and a 1-year high of $1,078.23. The company has a current ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20.

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

Costco Wholesale Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 14th. Investors of record on Friday, October 31st were given a $1.30 dividend. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 31st. Costco Wholesale’s dividend payout ratio is 28.56%.

Insider Transactions at Costco Wholesale

In other news, EVP William Richard Wilcox sold 2,400 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $930.13, for a total value of $2,232,312.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 2,000 shares in the company, valued at $1,860,260. This represents a 54.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Teresa A. Jones sold 600 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the executive vice president directly 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 disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 10,320 shares of company stock worth $9,605,487. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.