Costco Wholesale Corporation $COST Shares Sold by Benin Management CORP

Benin Management CORP decreased its position in shares of Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST) by 5.3% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 5,310 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 300 shares during the period. Costco Wholesale accounts for about 1.4% of Benin Management CORP’s holdings, making the stock its 14th largest position. Benin Management CORP’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $5,257,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Corps Capital Advisors LLC raised its position in Costco Wholesale by 0.7% in the 1st quarter. Corps Capital Advisors LLC now owns 1,547 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,463,000 after purchasing an additional 10 shares in the last quarter. Covestor Ltd raised its position in Costco Wholesale by 8.6% in the 1st quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 126 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $119,000 after purchasing an additional 10 shares in the last quarter. MOKAN Wealth Management Inc. raised its position in Costco Wholesale by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. MOKAN Wealth Management Inc. now owns 2,638 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $2,499,000 after purchasing an additional 11 shares in the last quarter. Aspect Partners LLC raised its position in Costco Wholesale by 24.4% in the 1st quarter. Aspect Partners LLC now owns 56 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $53,000 after purchasing an additional 11 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Viewpoint Capital Management LLC raised its position in Costco Wholesale by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. Viewpoint Capital Management LLC now owns 2,689 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $2,543,000 after purchasing an additional 11 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.48% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on COST shares. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price target on Costco Wholesale from $1,137.00 to $1,140.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, September 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on 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. Evercore ISI reduced their price target on Costco Wholesale from $1,060.00 to $1,025.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, September 26th. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on Costco Wholesale in a research report on Thursday, September 18th. They set a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Finally, Daiwa Capital Markets cut their target price on Costco Wholesale from $1,005.00 to $947.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, September 30th. Nineteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,068.15.

Insider Activity at Costco Wholesale

In other Costco Wholesale news, EVP Russell D. Miller sold 3,381 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $915.00, for a total transaction of $3,093,615.00. Following the transaction, 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 filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Teresa A. Jones sold 600 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 2,362 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,343,222.10. This trade represents a 20.26% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Costco Wholesale Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ COST opened at $937.50 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a current ratio of 1.03. Costco Wholesale Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $867.34 and a fifty-two week high of $1,078.23. The firm has a market capitalization of $415.48 billion, a PE ratio of 51.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.68 and a beta of 0.98. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $947.38 and its 200-day simple moving average is $971.46.

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

Costco Wholesale Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared 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 payout ratio is 28.56%.

Costco Wholesale 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.