SMART Wealth LLC Has $559,000 Position in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)

SMART Wealth LLC decreased its position in shares of Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) by 21.4% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 631 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 172 shares during the quarter. SMART Wealth LLC’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $559,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of COST. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC bought a new stake in Costco Wholesale in the third quarter valued at about $29,000. Financial Connections Group Inc. lifted its stake in Costco Wholesale by 557.1% in the second quarter. Financial Connections Group Inc. now owns 46 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $39,000 after buying an additional 39 shares in the last quarter. Summit Securities Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Costco Wholesale during the second quarter worth $50,000. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Costco Wholesale in the 3rd quarter worth $58,000. Finally, Fairway Wealth LLC increased its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 230.0% during the 2nd quarter. Fairway Wealth LLC now owns 66 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $56,000 after purchasing an additional 46 shares in the last quarter. 68.48% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently commented on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on Costco Wholesale from $876.00 to $995.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. DA Davidson lifted their target price on Costco Wholesale from $880.00 to $900.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday. TD Cowen increased their price target on Costco Wholesale from $975.00 to $1,090.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Costco Wholesale from $950.00 to $1,150.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, Telsey Advisory Group reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $1,050.00 price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale in a report on Friday. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nineteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Costco Wholesale has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $988.46.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Costco Wholesale news, EVP Russell D. Miller sold 4,400 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, October 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $891.15, for a total transaction of $3,921,060.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 10,202 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,091,512.30. This represents a 30.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Pierre Riel sold 2,000 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $896.71, for a total value of $1,793,420.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 10,210 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,155,409.10. This trade represents a 16.38 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 11,016 shares of company stock valued at $9,826,115. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Costco Wholesale Trading Up 0.1 %

NASDAQ:COST opened at $989.35 on Monday. Costco Wholesale Co. has a one year low of $630.30 and a one year high of $1,007.80. The company has a market cap of $438.35 billion, a PE ratio of 58.09, a PEG ratio of 6.02 and a beta of 0.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a current ratio of 0.97 and a quick ratio of 0.44. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $926.84 and a 200-day moving average of $885.75.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, September 26th. The retailer reported $5.15 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.05 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $79.70 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $79.91 billion. Costco Wholesale had a return on equity of 33.19% and a net margin of 2.93%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $4.86 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 17.83 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Costco Wholesale Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 1st were given a dividend of $1.16 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 1st. This represents a $4.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.47%. Costco Wholesale’s dividend payout ratio is currently 27.25%.

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.