Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) Shares Sold by Retireful LLC

Retireful LLC decreased its position in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) by 81.8% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 867 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 3,891 shares during the quarter. Retireful LLC’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $769,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in COST. Portfolio Design Labs LLC grew its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 95.0% in the 3rd quarter. Portfolio Design Labs LLC now owns 468 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $415,000 after buying an additional 228 shares during the last quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in Costco Wholesale by 2.5% in the third quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 24,909 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $22,082,000 after acquiring an additional 600 shares in the last quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 33.1% during the third quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 66,399 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $58,864,000 after purchasing an additional 16,513 shares during the last quarter. Howe & Rusling Inc. increased its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 3.5% during the third quarter. Howe & Rusling Inc. now owns 9,378 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $8,314,000 after purchasing an additional 314 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Grant Street Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Costco Wholesale during the third quarter worth about $200,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.48% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently issued reports on COST. Sanford C. Bernstein started coverage on Costco Wholesale in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. They set an “outperform” rating and a $1,016.00 price target on the stock. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $985.00 to $990.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $876.00 to $995.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Roth Mkm increased their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $676.00 to $755.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Finally, Redburn Atlantic lowered 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 investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $908.81.

Costco Wholesale Stock Performance

NASDAQ:COST opened at $930.15 on Wednesday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $898.80 and its 200-day simple moving average is $862.25. The company has a quick ratio of 0.44, a current ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25. The stock has a market cap of $412.12 billion, a PE ratio of 56.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.60 and a beta of 0.80. Costco Wholesale Co. has a fifty-two week low of $577.34 and a fifty-two week high of $962.00.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, September 26th. The retailer reported $5.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.05 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $79.70 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $79.91 billion. Costco Wholesale had a net margin of 2.90% and a return on equity of 31.05%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $4.86 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 17.75 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, November 15th. Investors of record on Friday, November 1st were issued a dividend of $1.16 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 1st. This represents a $4.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.50%. Costco Wholesale’s dividend payout ratio is presently 28.00%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Pierre Riel sold 2,000 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $896.71, for a total transaction of $1,793,420.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 10,210 shares in the company, valued at $9,155,409.10. The trade was a 16.38 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Richard A. Galanti sold 1,416 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $894.68, for a total value of $1,266,866.88. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 27,400 shares in the company, valued at approximately $24,514,232. This trade represents a 4.91 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 11,016 shares of company stock worth $9,826,115. 0.18% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.