Vanguard Group Inc. Acquires 711,560 Shares of Costco Wholesale Corporation $COST

Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST) by 1.7% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 43,356,271 shares of the retailer’s stock after buying an additional 711,560 shares during the period. Costco Wholesale comprises approximately 0.7% of Vanguard Group Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 17th biggest holding. Vanguard Group Inc. owned approximately 0.10% of Costco Wholesale worth $42,920,107,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in Costco Wholesale in the 1st quarter valued at $3,461,159,000. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC raised 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 during the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI raised its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 84.0% in the first quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 812,188 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $768,114,000 after purchasing an additional 370,806 shares during the last quarter. Symphony Financial Ltd. Co. lifted its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 15,055.5% during the second quarter. Symphony Financial Ltd. Co. now owns 320,994 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $317,722,000 after purchasing an additional 318,876 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Valeo Financial Advisors LLC boosted 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 purchasing an additional 310,197 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 68.48% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Teresa A. Jones sold 600 shares of Costco Wholesale 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 transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 2,362 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,343,222.10. The trade was a 20.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Russell D. Miller sold 3,381 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 29th. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,912,100. This represents a 25.77% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 10,320 shares of company stock worth $9,605,487 in the last three months. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

COST has been the subject of several analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,333.00 to $1,418.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 26th. DA Davidson reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $1,000.00 price target on shares of Costco Wholesale in a report on Friday, September 26th. Argus upped their price objective 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. Daiwa Capital Markets lowered their target price 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. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein reduced their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,140.00 to $1,134.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, November 4th. Nineteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,063.88.

Costco Wholesale Stock Down 1.1%

Shares of NASDAQ COST opened at $912.59 on Tuesday. 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 capitalization of $404.44 billion, a PE ratio of 50.11, a P/E/G ratio of 5.54 and a beta of 0.98. Costco Wholesale Corporation has a one year low of $871.71 and a one year high of $1,078.23. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $933.74 and its 200-day moving average price is $965.75.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, September 25th. The retailer reported $5.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.81 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $86.16 billion for 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 firm’s quarterly revenue was up 8.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $5.15 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Costco Wholesale Corporation will post 18.03 EPS for the current year.

Costco Wholesale Announces Dividend

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

About Costco Wholesale

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.