Citizens Business Bank Sells 19 Shares of Costco Wholesale Corporation $COST

Citizens Business Bank lessened its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST) by 2.9% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 638 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 19 shares during the quarter. Citizens Business Bank’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $632,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in COST. Brighton Jones LLC raised its stake in Costco Wholesale by 12.3% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 19,825 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $18,165,000 after purchasing an additional 2,172 shares during the period. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC raised its stake in Costco Wholesale by 13.1% during the 4th quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,123 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,029,000 after purchasing an additional 130 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in Costco Wholesale by 12.6% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 8,628 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $8,160,000 after purchasing an additional 966 shares during the period. ORG Wealth Partners LLC raised its stake in Costco Wholesale by 1,081.0% during the 1st quarter. ORG Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,925 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,843,000 after purchasing an additional 1,762 shares during the period. Finally, Bay Colony Advisory Group Inc d b a Bay Colony Advisors raised its stake in Costco Wholesale by 1.4% during the 1st quarter. Bay Colony Advisory Group Inc d b a Bay Colony Advisors now owns 3,813 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $3,544,000 after purchasing an additional 51 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 68.48% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Costco Wholesale

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have issued reports on COST. Erste Group Bank downgraded Costco Wholesale from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $1,160.00 to $1,050.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, September 26th. Citigroup reduced their price objective on 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. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on 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. Nineteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,068.15.

Costco Wholesale Price Performance

COST opened at $936.33 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $949.51 and a 200 day moving average of $971.49. Costco Wholesale Corporation has a 52-week low of $867.34 and a 52-week high of $1,078.23. The company has a quick ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. The stock has a market cap of $414.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 51.42, a PEG ratio of 5.61 and a beta of 0.98.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, September 25th. The retailer reported $5.87 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.81 by $0.06. Costco Wholesale had a return on equity of 30.09% and a net margin of 2.94%.The business had revenue of $86.16 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $86.01 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $5.15 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Costco Wholesale Corporation will post 18.03 EPS for the current year.

Costco Wholesale Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 31st will be given a $1.30 dividend. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 31st. Costco Wholesale’s payout ratio is presently 28.56%.

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.