GWN Securities Inc. Has $912,000 Stock Position in Costco Wholesale Corporation $COST

GWN Securities Inc. lowered its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST) by 83.4% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 901 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 4,522 shares during the period. GWN Securities Inc.’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $912,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Corps Capital Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 0.7% during the first quarter. Corps Capital Advisors LLC now owns 1,547 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,463,000 after buying an additional 10 shares during the last quarter. Covestor Ltd grew its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 8.6% during the first quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 126 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $119,000 after buying an additional 10 shares during the last quarter. Viewpoint Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 0.4% during the first quarter. Viewpoint Capital Management LLC now owns 2,689 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $2,543,000 after buying an additional 11 shares during the last quarter. Mitchell Mcleod Pugh & Williams Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 0.4% during the first quarter. Mitchell Mcleod Pugh & Williams Inc. now owns 3,071 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $2,905,000 after buying an additional 11 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SeaBridge Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 0.4% during the first quarter. SeaBridge Investment Advisors LLC now owns 2,460 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $2,327,000 after buying an additional 11 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.48% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Costco Wholesale

In other news, EVP Teresa A. Jones sold 600 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 20th. The shares were 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 $2,343,222.10. The trade was a 20.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Claudine Adamo sold 2,700 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $935.68, for a total transaction of $2,526,336.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 6,851 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,410,343.68. This trade represents a 28.27% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 7,920 shares of company stock worth $7,373,175. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Costco Wholesale Stock Performance

Shares of COST stock opened at $924.16 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $409.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 50.75, a P/E/G ratio of 5.64 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 Corporation has a 52 week low of $867.34 and a 52 week high of $1,078.23. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $943.11 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $971.63.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, September 25th. The retailer reported $5.87 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.81 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $86.16 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 for the quarter 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. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Costco Wholesale Corporation will post 18.03 earnings per share for the current year.

Costco Wholesale Announces Dividend

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on COST. Roth Capital set a $907.00 price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, September 26th. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,137.00 to $1,140.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, September 26th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Costco Wholesale in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Telsey Advisory Group restated an “outperform” rating and set a $1,100.00 price target on shares of Costco Wholesale in a report on Wednesday, September 24th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of Costco Wholesale in a report on Thursday, October 9th. Nineteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,068.15.

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.