FWG Holdings LLC Lowers Stock Position in Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST)

FWG Holdings LLC cut its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST) by 44.4% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 232 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 185 shares during the quarter. FWG Holdings LLC’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $230,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in COST. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 106,402.1% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 8,160,190 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $7,717,744,000 after buying an additional 8,152,528 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Costco Wholesale in the fourth quarter valued at about $5,182,316,000. Leigh Baldwin & CO. LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Costco Wholesale in the fourth quarter valued at about $95,452,000. Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 12.6% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 5,257,809 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $4,817,573,000 after buying an additional 587,303 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 42,201,610 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $38,668,069,000 after buying an additional 455,043 shares during the last quarter. 68.48% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Costco Wholesale

In other Costco Wholesale news, EVP Yoram Rubanenko sold 4,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $974.96, for a total transaction of $3,899,840.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 5,774 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,629,419.04. This trade represents a 40.92% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Susan L. Decker sold 547 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $980.00, for a total transaction of $536,060.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 11,531 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,300,380. This represents a 4.53% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 13,547 shares of company stock valued at $13,396,790 over the last 90 days. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

COST has been the subject of a number of research reports. Truist Financial upped their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $995.00 to $1,042.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, May 30th. Telsey Advisory Group reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $1,100.00 price target on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research note on Thursday, July 10th. Mizuho began coverage on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research note on Friday, April 11th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $975.00 price target on the stock. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Costco Wholesale from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, June 6th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,150.00 to $1,225.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 30th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Costco Wholesale has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,037.48.

Costco Wholesale Stock Performance

Shares of COST opened at $964.90 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a quick ratio of 0.52 and a current ratio of 1.02. The company has a market capitalization of $427.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 54.76, a PEG ratio of 6.10 and a beta of 0.97. Costco Wholesale Corporation has a 1 year low of $793.00 and a 1 year high of $1,078.24. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $1,002.24 and its 200 day simple moving average is $982.43.

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

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.