King Luther Capital Management Corp Sells 916 Shares of Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)

King Luther Capital Management Corp decreased its position in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) by 4.9% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 17,668 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 916 shares during the period. King Luther Capital Management Corp’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $9,512,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in COST. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 118,320.2% in the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 7,396,524 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $3,376,513,000 after buying an additional 7,390,278 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Costco Wholesale in the 4th quarter valued at $2,328,844,000. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich increased its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 218,503.2% in the 2nd quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich now owns 3,563,232 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,918,373,000 after purchasing an additional 3,561,602 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley lifted its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 18.0% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 8,634,627 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $3,941,708,000 after buying an additional 1,315,174 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC boosted its stake in Costco Wholesale by 172.6% in the second quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,357,548 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $730,877,000 after buying an additional 859,599 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 66.31% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have commented on COST shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their target price on Costco Wholesale from $651.00 to $652.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 27th. HSBC began coverage on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research report on Friday, September 22nd. They issued a “hold” rating and a $600.00 price target for the company. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $560.00 to $640.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 3rd. Roth Mkm raised their target price on Costco Wholesale from $482.00 to $502.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 27th. Finally, Evercore ISI upped their price target on Costco Wholesale from $595.00 to $600.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, September 8th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-one have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $586.43.

Costco Wholesale Trading Up 0.6 %

NASDAQ COST opened at $580.80 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.07, a quick ratio of 0.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $564.44 and a 200 day simple moving average of $543.67. Costco Wholesale Co. has a 12 month low of $447.90 and a 12 month high of $599.89. The firm has a market capitalization of $257.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.02, a PEG ratio of 4.31 and a beta of 0.78.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, September 26th. The retailer reported $4.86 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.79 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $78.94 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $77.72 billion. Costco Wholesale had a return on equity of 28.10% and a net margin of 2.60%. The company’s revenue was up 9.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $4.20 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 15.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Costco Wholesale Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 17th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 3rd were paid a $1.02 dividend. 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 payout ratio is 28.81%.

Insider Activity at Costco Wholesale

In other Costco Wholesale news, VP Patrick J. Callans sold 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $553.76, for a total transaction of $1,384,400.00. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 67,934 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $37,619,131.84. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, VP Patrick J. Callans sold 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $553.76, for a total transaction of $1,384,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 67,934 shares in the company, valued at approximately $37,619,131.84. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Claudine Adamo sold 2,565 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, October 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $548.92, for a total value of $1,407,979.80. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 8,128 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,461,621.76. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 19,265 shares of company stock worth $10,797,118. Insiders own 0.22% of the company’s stock.

Costco Wholesale Company 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.