Hall Capital Management Co. Inc. Acquires 20 Shares of Costco Wholesale Corporation $COST

Hall Capital Management Co. Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST) by 0.3% during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 5,905 shares of the retailer’s stock after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the period. Costco Wholesale accounts for 2.5% of Hall Capital Management Co. Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 10th biggest position. Hall Capital Management Co. Inc.’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $5,846,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. LifeSteps Financial Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 4.4% during the second quarter. LifeSteps Financial Inc. now owns 1,548 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,532,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares during the period. Nelson Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 0.3% during the second quarter. Nelson Capital Management LLC now owns 9,951 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $9,851,000 after purchasing an additional 32 shares during the period. Lansing Street Advisors raised its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 116.4% during the second quarter. Lansing Street Advisors now owns 1,186 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,174,000 after purchasing an additional 638 shares during the period. Northern Financial Advisors Inc raised its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 1.1% during the second quarter. Northern Financial Advisors Inc now owns 1,599 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,583,000 after purchasing an additional 18 shares during the period. Finally, Matisse Capital raised its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 5.9% during the second quarter. Matisse Capital now owns 1,913 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,893,000 after purchasing an additional 107 shares during the period. 68.48% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Russell D. Miller sold 3,381 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the executive vice president owned 9,740 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,912,100. This trade represents a 25.77% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Yoram Rubanenko sold 4,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 approximately $5,629,419.04. This trade represents a 40.92% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 7,981 shares of company stock worth $7,588,685. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

COST has been the topic of a number of research reports. Telsey Advisory Group reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $1,100.00 target price on shares of Costco Wholesale in a report on Wednesday, September 24th. Truist Financial lowered their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,042.00 to $1,033.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, September 26th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research report on Wednesday. DA Davidson restated a “neutral” rating and set a $1,000.00 price target on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research report on Friday, September 26th. Finally, Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and set a $1,130.00 price target on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research report on Friday, September 26th. Nineteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Costco Wholesale presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,067.19.

Costco Wholesale Price Performance

Costco Wholesale stock opened at $914.80 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $405.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 50.24, a PEG ratio of 5.55 and a beta of 0.98. The company has a current ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $952.43 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $971.37. Costco Wholesale Corporation has a 52 week low of $867.34 and a 52 week high of $1,078.23.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last released its earnings results on Thursday, September 25th. The retailer reported $5.87 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 analysts’ expectations of $86.01 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $5.15 EPS. Costco Wholesale’s quarterly revenue was up 8.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that Costco Wholesale Corporation will post 18.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Costco Wholesale Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 1st were given a dividend of $1.30 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 1st. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.6%. Costco Wholesale’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 28.56%.

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.