Virtus Investment Advisers LLC Sells 72 Shares of Costco Wholesale Corporation $COST

Virtus Investment Advisers LLC lowered its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST) by 4.8% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,419 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 72 shares during the period. Virtus Investment Advisers LLC’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $1,405,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Bulwark Capital Corp purchased a new position in shares of Costco Wholesale during the 2nd quarter valued at $25,000. Soundwatch Capital LLC increased its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 635.7% in the 2nd quarter. Soundwatch Capital LLC now owns 2,553 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 2,206 shares during the last quarter. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA bought a new stake in Costco Wholesale in the 2nd quarter valued at about $31,000. Anderson Financial Strategies LLC lifted its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 900.0% during 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Financial Connections Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 975.0% during the second quarter. Financial Connections Group Inc. now owns 43 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $42,000 after purchasing an additional 39 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.48% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP William Richard Wilcox sold 2,400 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction on Friday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $930.13, for a total value of $2,232,312.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 2,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,860,260. The trade was a 54.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Tiffany Marie Barbre sold 1,239 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, October 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $934.62, for a total transaction of $1,157,994.18. Following the sale, the insider owned 5,155 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,817,966.10. This represents a 19.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 9,720 shares of company stock valued at $9,010,257 over the last three months. 0.18% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,140.00 to $1,134.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, November 4th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research note on Monday. Truist Financial dropped their target price on Costco Wholesale from $1,042.00 to $1,033.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, September 26th. Daiwa Capital Markets cut their price target on Costco Wholesale from $1,005.00 to $947.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, September 30th. Finally, Hovde Group started coverage on Costco Wholesale in a research note on Tuesday, November 18th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $16.00 price objective on the stock. Eighteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and thirteen have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,025.07.

Costco Wholesale Trading Up 1.6%

Shares of Costco Wholesale stock opened at $908.26 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a current ratio of 1.03 and a quick ratio of 0.55. Costco Wholesale Corporation has a 1 year low of $871.71 and a 1 year high of $1,078.23. The firm has a market cap of $402.52 billion, a PE ratio of 49.88, a PEG ratio of 5.54 and a beta of 0.98. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $923.33 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $960.10.

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

Costco Wholesale Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 31st were given a dividend of $1.30 per share. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 31st. Costco Wholesale’s dividend 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.