Costco Wholesale Corporation $COST Shares Bought by Morton Capital Management LLC CA

Morton Capital Management LLC CA raised its stake in Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST) by 20.2% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,397 shares of the retailer’s stock after acquiring an additional 235 shares during the quarter. Morton Capital Management LLC CA’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $1,383,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Corps Capital Advisors LLC lifted its stake 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 worth $1,463,000 after purchasing an additional 10 shares in the last quarter. Covestor Ltd lifted its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 8.6% during the first quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 126 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $119,000 after purchasing an additional 10 shares in the last quarter. Farrell Financial LLC lifted its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 2.2% during the first quarter. Farrell Financial LLC now owns 522 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $493,000 after purchasing an additional 11 shares in the last quarter. Western Pacific Wealth Management LP lifted its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 0.5% during the first quarter. Western Pacific Wealth Management LP now owns 2,035 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,925,000 after purchasing an additional 11 shares in the last quarter. Finally, MOKAN Wealth Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 0.4% during the first quarter. MOKAN Wealth Management Inc. now owns 2,638 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $2,499,000 after purchasing an additional 11 shares in the last quarter. 68.48% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have commented on COST. Truist Financial reduced 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. Erste Group Bank cut Costco Wholesale from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on Costco Wholesale from $1,333.00 to $1,418.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 26th. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on Costco Wholesale from $1,225.00 to $1,130.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, September 26th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on Costco Wholesale from $1,160.00 to $1,050.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, September 26th. Nineteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Costco Wholesale has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,067.19.

Insider Buying and Selling at Costco Wholesale

In other Costco Wholesale news, EVP Yoram Rubanenko sold 4,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $974.96, for a total transaction of $3,899,840.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 5,774 shares in the company, valued at $5,629,419.04. This represents a 40.92% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Russell D. Miller sold 3,381 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the executive vice president owned 9,740 shares in the company, valued at $8,912,100. The trade was a 25.77% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 7,981 shares of company stock worth $7,588,685 over the last quarter. 0.18% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Costco Wholesale Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ COST opened at $914.80 on Thursday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $952.43 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $971.37. Costco Wholesale Corporation has a 52-week low of $867.34 and a 52-week high of $1,078.23. The stock has a market capitalization of $405.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 50.24, a PEG ratio of 5.55 and a beta of 0.98. The company has a quick ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20.

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

Costco Wholesale Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 1st were paid a dividend of $1.30 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 1st. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.6%. Costco Wholesale’s dividend payout ratio is presently 28.56%.

About Costco Wholesale

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.