Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) Shares Sold by Investment Advisory Group LLC

Investment Advisory Group LLC lowered its stake in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) by 16.9% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 404 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 82 shares during the quarter. Investment Advisory Group LLC’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $382,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Tounjian Advisory Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Costco Wholesale in the 1st quarter valued at about $3,093,000. Pallas Capital Advisors LLC raised its position in Costco Wholesale by 17.2% in the 1st quarter. Pallas Capital Advisors LLC now owns 12,270 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $11,605,000 after purchasing an additional 1,800 shares in the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC raised its position in Costco Wholesale by 16.9% in the 1st quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 9,704 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $9,261,000 after purchasing an additional 1,402 shares in the last quarter. City Holding Co. raised its position in Costco Wholesale by 3.3% in the 1st quarter. City Holding Co. now owns 8,353 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $7,900,000 after purchasing an additional 263 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Rheos Capital Works Inc. raised its position in Costco Wholesale by 111.9% in the 1st quarter. Rheos Capital Works Inc. now owns 50,000 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $47,289,000 after purchasing an additional 26,400 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.48% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP James C. Klauer sold 4,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $981.07, for a total transaction of $3,924,280.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 43,994 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $43,161,193.58. This represents a 8.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Gary Millerchip sold 1,100 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $940.01, for a total value of $1,034,011.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 11,165 shares in the company, valued at $10,495,211.65. This represents a 8.97% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 8,000 shares of company stock valued at $7,816,895 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on COST shares. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Costco Wholesale from $1,150.00 to $1,225.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 30th. Cowen reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on Costco Wholesale from $1,075.00 to $1,125.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, March 7th. 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 Tuesday, June 3rd. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded Costco Wholesale from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-one have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,035.32.

Costco Wholesale Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ COST opened at $1,006.18 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $446.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 59.08, a P/E/G ratio of 6.15 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a current ratio of 0.98, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $994.50 and a two-hundred day moving average of $980.11. Costco Wholesale Co. has a twelve month low of $793.00 and a twelve month high of $1,078.24.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 29th. The retailer reported $4.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.24 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $63.21 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $62.93 billion. Costco Wholesale had a return on equity of 32.31% and a net margin of 2.93%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $3.78 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 18.03 earnings per share for the current year.

Costco Wholesale Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 16th. Investors of record on Friday, May 2nd were issued a dividend of $1.30 per share. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.52%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 2nd. This is a positive change from Costco Wholesale’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.16. Costco Wholesale’s dividend payout ratio is currently 29.50%.

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.