Russell Miller Sells 3,381 Shares of Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) Stock

Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST) EVP Russell Miller sold 3,381 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $915.00, for a total transaction of $3,093,615.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 9,740 shares in the company, valued at $8,912,100. This trade represents a 25.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website.

Costco Wholesale Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ COST opened at $915.38 on Friday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $953.54 and its 200 day moving average price is $971.15. Costco Wholesale Corporation has a 1 year low of $867.34 and a 1 year high of $1,078.23. The company has a market capitalization of $405.95 billion, a PE ratio of 50.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.55 and a beta of 0.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a current ratio of 1.03.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, September 25th. The retailer reported $5.87 earnings per share (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 firm had revenue of $86.16 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $86.01 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $5.15 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 8.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that Costco Wholesale Corporation will post 18.03 earnings per share for the current year.

Costco Wholesale Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 15th. Investors of record on Friday, August 1st were issued a dividend of $1.30 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 1st. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.6%. Costco Wholesale’s dividend payout ratio is 28.56%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Costco Wholesale

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. KFA Private Wealth Group LLC raised its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 9.3% in the third quarter. KFA Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 720 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $667,000 after buying an additional 61 shares during the last quarter. HCR Wealth Advisors raised its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 4.6% in the third quarter. HCR Wealth Advisors now owns 8,362 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $7,666,000 after buying an additional 371 shares during the last quarter. Jackson Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 2.1% in the third quarter. Jackson Wealth Management LLC now owns 19,957 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $18,473,000 after buying an additional 401 shares during the last quarter. Summit Financial Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 46.3% in the third quarter. Summit Financial Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 819 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $751,000 after buying an additional 259 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 28.4% in the third quarter. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 5,091 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $4,712,000 after buying an additional 1,127 shares during the last quarter. 68.48% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently issued reports on COST shares. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Costco Wholesale in a report on Saturday, September 27th. Roth Capital set a $907.00 price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, September 26th. Daiwa Capital Markets reduced their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,005.00 to $947.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,333.00 to $1,418.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 26th. Finally, Evercore ISI reduced their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,060.00 to $1,025.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report 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, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,067.19.

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.