Thornburg Investment Management Inc. Cuts Stake in Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST)

Thornburg Investment Management Inc. reduced its stake in Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST) by 20.3% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 9,358 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 2,379 shares during the period. Thornburg Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $8,851,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 12.3% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 19,825 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $18,165,000 after purchasing an additional 2,172 shares during the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 13.1% during the fourth quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,123 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,029,000 after purchasing an additional 130 shares during the last quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG lifted its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 45.0% during the fourth quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 117,254 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $107,436,000 after purchasing an additional 36,384 shares during the last quarter. Highview Capital Management LLC DE lifted its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Highview Capital Management LLC DE now owns 4,813 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $4,410,000 after purchasing an additional 40 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hudson Value Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 5.7% during the fourth quarter. Hudson Value Partners LLC now owns 8,501 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $7,789,000 after purchasing an additional 455 shares during the last quarter. 68.48% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Costco Wholesale Stock Performance

Shares of COST stock opened at $933.99 on Tuesday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $990.03 and a 200 day moving average of $984.21. Costco Wholesale Corporation has a 52 week low of $793.00 and a 52 week high of $1,078.23. The firm has a market capitalization of $414.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 52.98, a PEG ratio of 5.82 and a beta of 0.97. The company has a quick ratio of 0.52, a current ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21.

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

Costco Wholesale Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 1st will be given a dividend of $1.30 per share. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.56%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 1st. Costco Wholesale’s dividend payout ratio is currently 29.50%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on COST. Stifel Nicolaus set a $1,035.00 price target on shares of Costco Wholesale in a report on Thursday, May 29th. Evercore ISI lowered their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,075.00 to $1,060.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, June 17th. Telsey Advisory Group reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $1,100.00 price target on shares of Costco Wholesale in a report on Thursday, July 10th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Costco Wholesale from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, June 6th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased 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 report on Friday, May 30th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,037.48.

Insider Transactions at Costco Wholesale

In other Costco Wholesale news, EVP Pierre Riel sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,014.15, for a total transaction 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 approximately $8,326,171.50. This trade represents a 19.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Patrick J. Callans sold 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,002.77, for a total value of $3,008,310.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 58,543 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $58,705,164.11. This represents a 4.87% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 9,547 shares of company stock worth $9,472,510. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

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.