Greenwood Capital Associates LLC Trims Position in Costco Wholesale Corporation $COST

Greenwood Capital Associates LLC lowered its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST) by 37.2% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 321 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 190 shares during the period. Greenwood Capital Associates LLC’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $318,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Bulwark Capital Corp purchased a new position in Costco Wholesale during the second quarter worth approximately $25,000. Anderson Financial Strategies LLC raised its stake in Costco Wholesale by 900.0% during the first quarter. Anderson Financial Strategies LLC now owns 40 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 36 shares during the period. eCIO Inc. purchased a new position in Costco Wholesale during the first quarter worth approximately $48,000. Aspect Partners LLC raised its stake in Costco Wholesale by 24.4% during the first quarter. Aspect Partners LLC now owns 56 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $53,000 after purchasing an additional 11 shares during the period. Finally, Ransom Advisory Ltd purchased a new position in Costco Wholesale during the first quarter worth approximately $61,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.48% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

COST has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Citigroup cut their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,065.00 to $990.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, September 29th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Costco Wholesale from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, June 6th. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,225.00 to $1,130.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, September 26th. Evercore ISI cut their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,060.00 to $1,025.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, September 26th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,333.00 to $1,418.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 26th. Nineteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,067.19.

Costco Wholesale Stock Down 0.2%

COST stock opened at $915.38 on Friday. Costco Wholesale Corporation has a 52 week low of $867.34 and a 52 week high of $1,078.23. The company has a market capitalization of $405.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 50.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.55 and a beta of 0.98. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $953.54 and its two-hundred day moving average is $971.15. The company has a current ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, September 25th. The retailer reported $5.87 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.81 by $0.06. Costco Wholesale had a net margin of 2.94% and a return on equity of 30.09%. The company had revenue of $86.16 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $86.01 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $5.15 EPS. Costco Wholesale’s revenue was up 8.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that Costco Wholesale Corporation will post 18.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Costco Wholesale Dividend Announcement

The firm 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 of this dividend was Friday, August 1st. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.6%. Costco Wholesale’s payout ratio is currently 28.56%.

Insider Transactions at Costco Wholesale

In other news, EVP Teresa A. Jones sold 600 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $992.05, for a total value of $595,230.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 2,362 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,343,222.10. The trade was a 20.26% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Russell D. Miller sold 3,381 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $915.00, for a total transaction of $3,093,615.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 9,740 shares in the company, valued at $8,912,100. This represents a 25.77% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 7,981 shares of company stock valued at $7,588,685 in the last quarter. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

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.