Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) Shares Purchased by Braun Stacey Associates Inc.

Braun Stacey Associates Inc. grew its position in shares of Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) by 4.6% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 26,655 shares of the retailer’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,173 shares during the quarter. Braun Stacey Associates Inc.’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $23,630,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of COST. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 113,947.9% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 7,370,916 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $6,534,464,000 after acquiring an additional 7,364,453 shares during the period. Wulff Hansen & CO. boosted its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 99,208.6% during the second quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 1,474,733 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,253,508,000 after acquiring an additional 1,473,248 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 287.3% during the second quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 836,247 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $710,802,000 after acquiring an additional 620,341 shares during the period. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 51,747.5% during the second quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 619,578 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $5,266,000 after acquiring an additional 618,383 shares during the period. Finally, Swedbank AB acquired a new position in shares of Costco Wholesale during the first quarter valued at $285,618,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.48% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Richard A. Galanti sold 1,416 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $894.68, for a total value of $1,266,866.88. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 27,400 shares in the company, valued at approximately $24,514,232. The trade was a 4.91 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Russell D. Miller sold 4,400 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $891.15, for a total value of $3,921,060.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 10,202 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,091,512.30. This trade represents a 30.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 11,016 shares of company stock worth $9,826,115. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Costco Wholesale Trading Down 1.8 %

Shares of NASDAQ COST opened at $907.07 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $401.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 54.74, a PEG ratio of 5.60 and a beta of 0.80. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $897.62 and a 200 day simple moving average of $859.62. Costco Wholesale Co. has a 52 week low of $572.24 and a 52 week high of $962.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a quick ratio of 0.44 and a current ratio of 0.97.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, September 26th. The retailer reported $5.15 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.05 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $79.70 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $79.91 billion. Costco Wholesale had a return on equity of 31.05% and a net margin of 2.90%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $4.86 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 17.75 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Costco Wholesale Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Friday, November 1st were paid a $1.16 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 1st. This represents a $4.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.51%. Costco Wholesale’s payout ratio is 28.00%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

COST has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Loop Capital lifted their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $975.00 to $1,005.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Sanford C. Bernstein initiated coverage on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. They set an “outperform” rating and a $1,016.00 price objective on the stock. Truist Financial cut shares of Costco Wholesale from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $873.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Tuesday, September 24th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $855.00 to $950.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, September 9th. Finally, Redburn Atlantic cut shares of Costco Wholesale from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $860.00 to $890.00 in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $905.30.

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.