Costco Wholesale Corporation $COST Shares Sold by Brown Advisory Inc.

Brown Advisory Inc. decreased its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST) by 4.7% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 519,535 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 25,725 shares during the period. Brown Advisory Inc.’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $514,308,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Costco Wholesale in the second quarter worth approximately $5,692,035,000. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Costco Wholesale in the 1st quarter valued at $3,461,159,000. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC lifted its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 418,980.3% during the 2nd quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC now owns 2,359,422 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $2,335,686,000 after purchasing an additional 2,358,859 shares during the last quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 96,316.6% during the 2nd quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,378,758 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,364,888,000 after purchasing an additional 1,377,328 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 1.7% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 43,356,271 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $42,920,107,000 after purchasing an additional 711,560 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.48% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have weighed in on COST shares. Roth Capital set a $907.00 price target on Costco Wholesale and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, September 26th. Telsey Advisory Group restated an “outperform” rating and set a $1,100.00 target price on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research note on Monday. DA Davidson reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $1,000.00 price target on shares of Costco Wholesale in a report on Thursday. Oppenheimer cut their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,130.00 to $1,050.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, November 3rd. Finally, Truist Financial lowered their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,042.00 to $1,033.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Friday, September 26th. Nineteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and thirteen have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,023.41.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Costco Wholesale 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 transaction of $2,232,312.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 2,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,860,260. This represents a 54.55% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Claudine Adamo sold 2,700 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $935.68, for a total value of $2,526,336.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 6,851 shares in the company, valued at $6,410,343.68. This trade represents a 28.27% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 9,720 shares of company stock valued at $9,010,257. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Costco Wholesale Price Performance

Costco Wholesale stock opened at $895.85 on Friday. 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 firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $920.10 and its 200 day simple moving average is $956.78. Costco Wholesale Corporation has a 52 week low of $871.71 and a 52 week high of $1,078.23. The firm has a market capitalization of $397.02 billion, a PE ratio of 49.20, a P/E/G ratio of 6.26 and a beta of 1.00.

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

Costco Wholesale Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 31st were given 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 was Friday, October 31st. Costco Wholesale’s payout ratio 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.