WFA of San Diego LLC Sells 1,795 Shares of Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)

WFA of San Diego LLC reduced its holdings in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) by 76.6% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 547 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 1,795 shares during the quarter. WFA of San Diego LLC’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $295,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Inlet Private Wealth LLC grew its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 0.3% during the 2nd quarter. Inlet Private Wealth LLC now owns 5,535 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $2,980,000 after acquiring an additional 18 shares during the period. ETF Store Inc. grew its position in Costco Wholesale by 3.6% in the 2nd quarter. ETF Store Inc. now owns 522 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $289,000 after purchasing an additional 18 shares during the period. TrinityPoint Wealth LLC boosted its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 0.9% in the 2nd quarter. TrinityPoint Wealth LLC now owns 2,134 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,149,000 after buying an additional 18 shares during the last quarter. Veery Capital LLC grew its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 2.4% in the second quarter. Veery Capital LLC now owns 812 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $437,000 after acquiring an additional 19 shares during the period. Finally, Towerpoint Wealth LLC increased its position in Costco Wholesale by 2.8% during the second quarter. Towerpoint Wealth LLC now owns 696 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $375,000 after acquiring an additional 19 shares during the last quarter. 66.31% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, VP Patrick J. Callans sold 2,500 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $553.76, for a total value of $1,384,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 67,934 shares in the company, valued at $37,619,131.84. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, EVP Caton Frates sold 1,200 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction on Friday, October 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $562.64, for a total value of $675,168.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 8,363 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,705,358.32. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, VP Patrick J. Callans sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $553.76, for a total value of $1,384,400.00. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 67,934 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $37,619,131.84. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 19,265 shares of company stock worth $10,797,118. 0.22% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on COST shares. Argus boosted their price target on Costco Wholesale from $630.00 to $650.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 29th. Raymond James raised their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $570.00 to $580.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 27th. Bank of America boosted their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $575.00 to $610.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 27th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $510.00 to $525.00 in a research report on Thursday, October 5th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price target on Costco Wholesale from $560.00 to $640.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 3rd. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-one have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $586.43.

Costco Wholesale Trading Up 0.6 %

Shares of Costco Wholesale stock traded up $3.36 during trading on Monday, hitting $580.51. The stock had a trading volume of 209,731 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,799,733. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a current ratio of 1.07 and a quick ratio of 0.57. Costco Wholesale Co. has a 12 month low of $447.90 and a 12 month high of $599.89. The stock has a market cap of $257.01 billion, a PE ratio of 40.76, a PEG ratio of 4.31 and a beta of 0.78. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $564.00 and its 200-day simple moving average is $543.03.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, September 26th. The retailer reported $4.86 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.79 by $0.07. Costco Wholesale had a net margin of 2.60% and a return on equity of 28.10%. The company had revenue of $78.94 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $77.72 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $4.20 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 9.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 15.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Costco Wholesale Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 17th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 3rd were given a dividend of $1.02 per share. This represents a $4.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.70%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, November 2nd. Costco Wholesale’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 28.81%.

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.