Aurora Private Wealth Inc. Sells 201 Shares of Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST)

Aurora Private Wealth Inc. cut its holdings in Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST) by 28.4% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 507 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 201 shares during the period. Aurora Private Wealth Inc.’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $479,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in COST. Sterling Financial Planning Inc. grew its position in Costco Wholesale by 2.0% during the 1st quarter. Sterling Financial Planning Inc. now owns 726 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $687,000 after acquiring an additional 14 shares during the last quarter. Onyx Bridge Wealth Group LLC lifted its position in Costco Wholesale by 5.0% in the first quarter. Onyx Bridge Wealth Group LLC now owns 877 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $830,000 after purchasing an additional 42 shares during the last quarter. Goelzer Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 4.4% during the first quarter. Goelzer Investment Management Inc. now owns 10,106 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $9,558,000 after purchasing an additional 429 shares during the period. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC grew its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 1.1% in the first quarter. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC now owns 9,712 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $9,185,000 after purchasing an additional 110 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Values Added Financial LLC increased its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 2.2% in the first quarter. Values Added Financial LLC now owns 1,328 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,256,000 after buying an additional 28 shares during the period. 68.48% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Costco Wholesale Trading Up 0.4%

Shares of NASDAQ COST opened at $986.27 on Friday. Costco Wholesale Corporation has a 1 year low of $793.00 and a 1 year high of $1,078.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a current ratio of 1.02 and a quick ratio of 0.52. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $1,005.02 and a 200 day moving average of $981.05. The stock has a market cap of $437.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 55.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.11 and a beta of 0.97.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 29th. The retailer reported $4.28 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.24 by $0.04. Costco Wholesale had a net margin of 2.92% and a return on equity of 30.48%. The business had revenue of $63.21 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $62.93 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $3.78 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Costco Wholesale Corporation will post 18.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Costco Wholesale Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 16th. Investors of record on Friday, May 2nd were given a dividend of $1.30 per share. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.53%. 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 (DPR) is 29.50%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on COST shares. Sanford C. Bernstein reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $1,035.00 price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research note on Thursday, May 29th. Cfra Research raised Costco Wholesale from a “hold” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 4th. Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Finally, Truist Financial increased their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $995.00 to $1,042.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, May 30th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-one have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,034.79.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Pierre Riel sold 2,000 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,014.15, for a total value of $2,028,300.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 8,210 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,326,171.50. The trade was a 19.59% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Susan L. Decker sold 547 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $980.00, for a total transaction of $536,060.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 11,531 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,300,380. The trade was a 4.53% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 9,547 shares of company stock worth $9,496,950 over the last three months. 0.18% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.