Alta Wealth Advisors LLC Has $4.50 Million Position in Costco Wholesale Corporation $COST

Alta Wealth Advisors LLC reduced its holdings in Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST) by 1.1% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 4,550 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 49 shares during the quarter. Costco Wholesale accounts for about 2.1% of Alta Wealth Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 11th largest holding. Alta Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $4,504,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in shares of Costco Wholesale during the 1st quarter worth approximately $3,461,159,000. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC increased its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 418,980.3% during the second quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC now owns 2,359,422 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $2,335,686,000 after purchasing an additional 2,358,859 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 1.0% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 42,644,711 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $40,332,515,000 after purchasing an additional 443,101 shares during the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI boosted its stake in Costco Wholesale by 84.0% in the 1st quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 812,188 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $768,114,000 after purchasing an additional 370,806 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 5.2% in the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,907,670 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $3,695,796,000 after buying an additional 191,985 shares in the last quarter. 68.48% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

COST has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Argus boosted their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,170.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, September 29th. Truist Financial lowered their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $1,042.00 to $1,033.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, September 26th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on Costco Wholesale from $1,333.00 to $1,418.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 26th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price target on Costco Wholesale from $1,137.00 to $1,140.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, September 26th. Finally, Erste Group Bank cut shares of Costco Wholesale from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 5th. Nineteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,067.19.

Costco Wholesale Trading Down 0.2%

NASDAQ COST opened at $915.38 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $405.95 billion, a PE ratio of 50.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.55 and a beta of 0.98. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $953.54 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $972.15. 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 Corporation has a 12 month low of $867.34 and a 12 month high of $1,078.23.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 company earned $5.15 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Costco Wholesale Corporation will post 18.03 EPS for the current year.

Costco Wholesale Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 1st were paid a $1.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 1st. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.6%. Costco Wholesale’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 28.56%.

Insider Activity at Costco Wholesale

In other news, EVP Yoram Rubanenko sold 4,000 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $974.96, for a total transaction of $3,899,840.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 5,774 shares in the company, valued at $5,629,419.04. This trade represents a 40.92% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Russell D. Miller sold 3,381 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $915.00, for a total value of $3,093,615.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 9,740 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,912,100. This represents a 25.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 7,981 shares of company stock valued at $7,588,685 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

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.