125 Shares in Costco Wholesale Corporation $COST Purchased by Virtus Advisers LLC

Virtus Advisers LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST) during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund acquired 125 shares of the retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $124,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in COST. Bulwark Capital Corp purchased a new position in shares of Costco Wholesale during the 2nd quarter valued at $25,000. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA purchased a new position in shares of Costco Wholesale in the second quarter valued at about $31,000. Anderson Financial Strategies LLC boosted its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 900.0% in the first quarter. Anderson Financial Strategies LLC now owns 40 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $38,000 after acquiring an additional 36 shares during the period. Financial Connections Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 975.0% in the second quarter. Financial Connections Group Inc. now owns 43 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $42,000 after acquiring an additional 39 shares during the period. Finally, Frazier Financial Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 72.0% during the second quarter. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC now owns 43 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $43,000 after purchasing an additional 18 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 68.48% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Tiffany Marie Barbre sold 1,239 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $934.62, for a total value of $1,157,994.18. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 5,155 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,817,966.10. The trade was a 19.38% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Claudine Adamo sold 2,700 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, October 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $935.68, for a total value of $2,526,336.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 6,851 shares in the company, valued at $6,410,343.68. The trade was a 28.27% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 9,720 shares of company stock worth $9,010,257 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Costco Wholesale Trading Up 0.5%

Shares of COST opened at $912.90 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $404.58 billion, a PE ratio of 50.13, a P/E/G ratio of 5.54 and a beta of 0.98. The company’s fifty day moving average is $922.57 and its 200 day moving average is $958.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a current ratio of 1.03. Costco Wholesale Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $871.71 and a fifty-two week high of $1,078.23.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, September 25th. The retailer reported $5.87 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.81 by $0.06. Costco Wholesale had a net margin of 2.94% and a return on equity of 30.09%. The business had revenue of $86.16 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $86.01 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $5.15 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 8.1% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Costco Wholesale Corporation will post 18.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Costco Wholesale Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 31st were paid a $1.30 dividend. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 31st. Costco Wholesale’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 28.56%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently commented on COST. Erste Group Bank cut Costco Wholesale from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 5th. Daiwa Capital Markets reduced their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,005.00 to $947.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, September 30th. Hovde Group began coverage on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research report on Tuesday, November 18th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $16.00 target price for the company. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on shares of Costco Wholesale in a report on Thursday, September 18th. They issued a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research note on Thursday, October 9th. Eighteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and thirteen have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,025.07.

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.