46,807 Shares in Costco Wholesale Corporation $COST Bought by VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al

VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al purchased a new stake in Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST) in the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 46,807 shares of the retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $46,336,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Fishman Jay A Ltd. MI lifted its position in Costco Wholesale by 3.5% in the 2nd quarter. Fishman Jay A Ltd. MI now owns 16,888 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $16,718,000 after acquiring an additional 575 shares in the last quarter. Independent Solutions Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 0.3% in the second quarter. Independent Solutions Wealth Management LLC now owns 20,638 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $20,430,000 after purchasing an additional 53 shares in the last quarter. Personal CFO Solutions LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 12.4% in the first quarter. Personal CFO Solutions LLC now owns 1,519 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,436,000 after purchasing an additional 167 shares in the last quarter. Graybill Wealth Management LTD. acquired a new position in shares of Costco Wholesale during the first quarter worth about $3,095,000. Finally, Rossmore Private Capital grew its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 0.9% during the first quarter. Rossmore Private Capital now owns 6,687 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $6,325,000 after buying an additional 62 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 68.48% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Truist Financial reduced their price target on 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. Erste Group Bank cut shares of Costco Wholesale from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 5th. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price 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. DA Davidson reissued 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, 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 note on Friday, September 26th. Nineteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Costco Wholesale has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,068.15.

Costco Wholesale Stock Up 1.2%

Shares of COST opened at $936.33 on Friday. Costco Wholesale Corporation has a 52 week low of $867.34 and a 52 week high of $1,078.23. The firm has a market cap of $414.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 51.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.68 and a beta of 0.98. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $949.51 and its 200 day simple moving average is $971.53. 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 released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, September 25th. The retailer reported $5.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.81 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $86.16 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $86.01 billion. Costco Wholesale had a return on equity of 30.09% and a net margin of 2.94%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 8.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $5.15 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Costco Wholesale Corporation will post 18.03 earnings per share for the current year.

Costco Wholesale Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced 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. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 31st. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.6%. Costco Wholesale’s payout ratio is presently 28.56%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Costco Wholesale news, EVP Russell D. Miller sold 3,381 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 9,740 shares in the company, valued at $8,912,100. The trade was a 25.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Teresa A. Jones sold 600 shares of the company’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 sale, the executive vice president owned 2,362 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,343,222.10. This represents a 20.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

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.