SVB Wealth LLC Sells 7,385 Shares of Costco Wholesale Corporation $COST

SVB Wealth LLC reduced its position in Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST) by 27.4% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 19,585 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 7,385 shares during the quarter. Costco Wholesale comprises about 0.8% of SVB Wealth LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 20th largest position. SVB Wealth LLC’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $18,523,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 1.0% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 42,644,711 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $40,332,515,000 after buying an additional 443,101 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 106,402.1% in the 1st 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 period. Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 12.6% in the 4th 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 period. Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 5.2% in the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,907,670 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $3,695,796,000 after purchasing an additional 191,985 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Costco Wholesale in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $3,461,159,000. 68.48% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

COST has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,115.00 to $1,160.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Evercore ISI reduced 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 research note on Tuesday, June 17th. Erste Group Bank downgraded shares of Costco Wholesale from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 5th. 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, Loop Capital reduced their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,115.00 to $1,110.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 29th. Seventeen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,050.00.

Costco Wholesale Trading Down 1.1%

COST opened at $958.54 on Friday. Costco Wholesale Corporation has a twelve month low of $867.16 and a twelve month high of $1,078.23. The company has a quick ratio of 0.52, a current ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. The company has a fifty day moving average of $969.85 and a 200-day moving average of $985.46. The stock has a market cap of $425.09 billion, a PE ratio of 54.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.03 and a beta of 0.96.

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

Costco Wholesale Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 1st were paid a $1.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 1st. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.5%. Costco Wholesale’s payout ratio is currently 29.50%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Susan L. Decker sold 547 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $980.00, for a total value of $536,060.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 11,531 shares in the company, valued at $11,300,380. The trade was a 4.53% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Yoram Rubanenko sold 4,000 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 5,774 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,629,419.04. This represents a 40.92% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 10,147 shares of company stock worth $10,067,740 over the last ninety days. 0.18% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.