Aurora Private Wealth Inc. Sells 37 Shares of Costco Wholesale Corporation $COST

Aurora Private Wealth Inc. lowered its stake in Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST) by 7.3% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 470 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 37 shares during the quarter. Aurora Private Wealth Inc.’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $466,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Bulwark Capital Corp bought a new stake in Costco Wholesale in the second quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Anderson Financial Strategies LLC raised its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 900.0% during the first quarter. Anderson Financial Strategies LLC now owns 40 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $38,000 after acquiring an additional 36 shares in the last quarter. eCIO Inc. bought a new position in shares of Costco Wholesale during the first quarter valued at approximately $48,000. Aspect Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 24.4% during the first quarter. Aspect Partners LLC now owns 56 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $53,000 after acquiring an additional 11 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ransom Advisory Ltd bought a new position in shares of Costco Wholesale during the first quarter valued at approximately $61,000. Institutional investors own 68.48% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Costco Wholesale

In other news, EVP Russell D. Miller sold 3,381 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, September 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $915.00, for a total value of $3,093,615.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 9,740 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,912,100. This represents a 25.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Yoram Rubanenko sold 4,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, July 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $974.96, for a total value of $3,899,840.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 5,774 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,629,419.04. This represents a 40.92% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 7,981 shares of company stock valued at $7,588,685. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

COST has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Costco Wholesale in a report on Wednesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on Costco Wholesale from $1,160.00 to $1,050.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, September 26th. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on Costco Wholesale in a report on Thursday, September 18th. They set a “peer perform” rating for the company. Erste Group Bank downgraded Costco Wholesale from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 5th. Finally, Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and set a $1,130.00 target price on shares of Costco Wholesale in a report on Friday, September 26th. Nineteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,066.23.

Costco Wholesale Price Performance

Shares of COST stock opened at $930.01 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $412.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 51.07, a PEG ratio of 5.72 and a beta of 0.98. The business’s fifty day moving average is $952.05 and its 200 day moving average is $971.48. Costco Wholesale Corporation has a twelve month low of $867.34 and a twelve month high of $1,078.23. The company has a quick ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20.

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

Costco Wholesale Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 1st were paid a $1.30 dividend. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 1st. Costco Wholesale’s dividend payout ratio is currently 28.56%.

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.