Costco Wholesale Corporation $COST Shares Sold by Baskin Financial Services Inc.

Baskin Financial Services Inc. cut its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST) by 0.9% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 66,805 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 628 shares during the period. Costco Wholesale accounts for 5.0% of Baskin Financial Services Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 4th largest position. Baskin Financial Services Inc.’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $66,132,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of COST. M1 Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 4.2% in the second quarter. M1 Capital Management LLC now owns 544 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $539,000 after buying an additional 22 shares in the last quarter. Cardano Risk Management B.V. raised its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 5.9% in the second quarter. Cardano Risk Management B.V. now owns 165,924 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $164,255,000 after buying an additional 9,213 shares in the last quarter. 3Chopt Investment Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 1.1% in the second quarter. 3Chopt Investment Partners LLC now owns 1,465 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,450,000 after buying an additional 16 shares in the last quarter. Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI raised its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 1.8% in the second quarter. Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI now owns 9,804 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $9,705,000 after buying an additional 173 shares in the last quarter. Finally, WMG Financial Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 13.0% in the second quarter. WMG Financial Advisors LLC now owns 644 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $638,000 after buying an additional 74 shares in the last quarter. 68.48% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on COST shares. Roth Capital set a $907.00 price target on shares of Costco Wholesale and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, September 26th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,333.00 to $1,418.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 26th. Argus lifted their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,170.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, September 29th. Daiwa Capital Markets dropped their price target 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, September 30th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,225.00 to $1,130.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Costco Wholesale presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,066.23.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Costco Wholesale news, EVP Yoram Rubanenko sold 4,000 shares of the business’s 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 sale, the executive vice president owned 5,774 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,629,419.04. The trade was a 40.92% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Russell D. Miller sold 3,381 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the executive vice president directly owned 9,740 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,912,100. This represents a 25.77% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 7,981 shares of company stock valued at $7,588,685. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Costco Wholesale Stock Performance

NASDAQ COST opened at $930.01 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $952.05 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $971.48. The stock has a market cap of $412.16 billion, a PE ratio of 51.07, a PEG ratio of 5.72 and a beta of 0.98. Costco Wholesale Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $867.34 and a fifty-two week high of $1,078.23. 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 posted its earnings results on Thursday, September 25th. The retailer reported $5.87 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.81 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $86.16 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $86.01 billion. Costco Wholesale had a net margin of 2.94% and a return on equity of 30.09%. The company’s revenue was up 8.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $5.15 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that Costco Wholesale Corporation will post 18.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Costco Wholesale Announces Dividend

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

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.