Pinnacle Associates Ltd. Cuts Stock Position in Costco Wholesale Corporation $COST

Pinnacle Associates Ltd. cut its holdings in Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST) by 1.1% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 36,826 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 409 shares during the quarter. Pinnacle Associates Ltd.’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $36,455,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of COST. Bulwark Capital Corp purchased a new position in shares of Costco Wholesale in the second quarter valued at $25,000. Anderson Financial Strategies LLC grew its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 900.0% in the first quarter. Anderson Financial Strategies LLC now owns 40 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 36 shares in the last quarter. Financial Connections Group Inc. lifted its position in Costco Wholesale by 975.0% in the second quarter. Financial Connections Group Inc. now owns 43 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $42,000 after buying an additional 39 shares during the last quarter. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC lifted its position in Costco Wholesale by 72.0% in the second quarter. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC now owns 43 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $43,000 after buying an additional 18 shares during the last quarter. Finally, eCIO Inc. bought a new stake in Costco Wholesale in the first quarter worth $48,000. 68.48% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

COST has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Daiwa Capital Markets lowered their price target on 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. DA Davidson restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $1,000.00 price target on shares of Costco Wholesale 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, October 8th. Truist Financial lowered 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. Finally, Argus raised their price target on Costco Wholesale from $1,170.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, September 29th. Nineteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,068.15.

Costco Wholesale Stock Up 0.9%

NASDAQ:COST opened at $920.18 on Friday. Costco Wholesale Corporation has a twelve month low of $867.34 and a twelve month high of $1,078.23. The company has a market cap of $407.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 50.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.54 and a beta of 0.98. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $940.48 and a 200-day simple moving average of $970.92. The company has a current ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, September 25th. The retailer reported $5.87 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.81 by $0.06. The firm 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 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Costco Wholesale Corporation will post 18.03 EPS for the current year.

Costco Wholesale Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Transactions at Costco Wholesale

In other Costco Wholesale news, EVP Russell D. Miller sold 3,381 shares of the business’s 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 transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 9,740 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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 SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Claudine Adamo sold 2,700 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $935.68, for a total transaction of $2,526,336.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 6,851 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,410,343.68. This represents a 28.27% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 7,920 shares of company stock valued at $7,373,175. 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.