Insider Selling: Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) EVP Sells 1,500 Shares of Stock

Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST) EVP Russell Miller sold 1,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $916.32, for a total transaction of $1,374,480.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 8,240 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,550,476.80. This represents a 15.40% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website.

Costco Wholesale Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ COST traded up $18.20 during trading on Monday, hitting $943.08. The company had a trading volume of 3,243,282 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,130,061. The firm has a market capitalization of $418.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 50.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.54 and a beta of 1.02. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $892.58 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $931.08. The company has a quick ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19. Costco Wholesale Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $844.06 and a fifty-two week high of $1,078.23.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 11th. The retailer reported $4.34 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.27 by $0.07. Costco Wholesale had a net margin of 2.96% and a return on equity of 29.35%. The firm had revenue of $67.31 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $67.03 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $4.04 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Costco Wholesale Corporation will post 18.03 earnings per share for the current year.

Costco Wholesale Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 31st were given a $1.30 dividend. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 31st. Costco Wholesale’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 27.85%.

Institutional Trading of Costco Wholesale

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Bulwark Capital Corp purchased a new position in shares of Costco Wholesale during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $25,000. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA acquired a new position in Costco Wholesale during the second quarter worth $31,000. Hurley Capital LLC lifted its stake in Costco Wholesale by 120.0% during the third quarter. Hurley Capital LLC now owns 33 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 18 shares in the last quarter. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Costco Wholesale during the third quarter worth $34,000. Finally, Collier Financial acquired a new stake in shares of Costco Wholesale in the third quarter valued at $35,000. 68.48% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Costco Wholesale News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Costco Wholesale this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Mizuho upgraded Costco to Outperform and added it to its top-picks list, lifting the stock and signaling analyst conviction after the recent pullback; Mizuho also raised its price target (cites the upgrade and top-picks coverage). Costco Added to Mizuho Top Picks
• Positive Sentiment: Company sales momentum shows signs of acceleration — a headline piece highlights two key Costco sales metrics that improved, which supports stronger top-line growth and investor enthusiasm. 2 Key Costco Sales Metrics Just Accelerated
• Positive Sentiment: Costco introduced a meaningful credit-card perk for members, a retention/engagement lift that can increase purchase frequency and margin capture from card-linked benefits. Costco quietly added a major credit card perk
• Neutral Sentiment: Long-form strategy/outlook pieces (e.g., “Where Will Costco Be in 5 Years?” and comparisons with Home Depot) reiterate Costco’s durable competitive advantages and strong track record—supportive for long-term investors but not an immediate catalyst. Where Will Costco Be in 5 Years? Costco vs Home Depot
• Neutral Sentiment: Coverage of PriceSmart’s outlook referenced Costco only as a peer benchmark; the PriceSmart article itself is about PSMT’s setup and is not a direct catalyst for COST. PriceSmart Base-Case
• Neutral Sentiment: Short-interest reporting for January appears noisy/invalid (reported as zero shares and NaN changes), so there’s no clear short-squeeze signal or fresh bearish pressure from the published short-data. (Data quality caution.)
• Negative Sentiment: Valuation remains a restraint — Costco’s trailing PE is elevated (~50x in the summary data), which can make the stock sensitive to growth/earnings disappointments and limits near-term upside for value-focused investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on COST shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $1,044.00 target price on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research note on Thursday. DA Davidson reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $1,000.00 price target on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research note on Thursday, December 4th. Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research note on Friday, December 12th. Robert W. Baird cut their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,125.00 to $1,000.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, December 12th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research note on Thursday, October 9th. Twenty-one equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Costco Wholesale has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $996.00.

Costco Wholesale Company Profile

Costco Wholesale Corporation operates a global chain of membership-only warehouse clubs that sell a wide array of merchandise in bulk at discounted prices. The company’s product mix includes groceries, fresh and frozen food, household goods, electronics, apparel, and seasonal items, augmented by its prominent private-label brand, Kirkland Signature. Costco’s business model centers on annual membership fees and high-volume, low-margin sales, designed to drive repeat purchasing and strong customer loyalty among both consumers and small-business buyers.

Beyond merchandise, Costco provides a range of ancillary services that complement its warehouses, including gasoline stations, pharmacy and optical services, hearing aid centers, photo services, and travel and insurance products.