Costco Wholesale Corporation $COST Shares Sold by Arlington Financial Advisors LLC

Arlington Financial Advisors LLC decreased its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST) by 12.8% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 8,701 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 1,278 shares during the period. Costco Wholesale accounts for 1.4% of Arlington Financial Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 21st largest position. Arlington Financial Advisors LLC’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $8,614,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of COST. Brighton Jones LLC increased its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 12.3% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 19,825 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $18,165,000 after acquiring an additional 2,172 shares in the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 13.1% in the fourth quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,123 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,029,000 after acquiring an additional 130 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 12.6% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 8,628 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $8,160,000 after acquiring an additional 966 shares in the last quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC increased its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 7.7% in the first quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 147,961 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $139,936,000 after acquiring an additional 10,639 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Precision Wealth Strategies LLC increased its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 14.2% in the first quarter. Precision Wealth Strategies LLC now owns 3,199 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $3,026,000 after acquiring an additional 398 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.48% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

COST has been the subject of several recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,160.00 to $1,050.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, September 26th. DA Davidson reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $1,000.00 price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research report on Friday, September 26th. Roth Capital set a $907.00 target price on shares of Costco Wholesale and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, September 26th. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,137.00 to $1,140.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, September 26th. Finally, Argus upped their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,170.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, September 29th. Twenty investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,068.04.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Costco Wholesale news, EVP Teresa A. Jones sold 600 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $992.05, for a total transaction of $595,230.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 2,362 shares in the company, valued at $2,343,222.10. This represents a 20.26% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Russell D. Miller sold 3,381 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, September 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $915.00, for a total transaction of $3,093,615.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 9,740 shares in the company, valued at $8,912,100. This trade represents a 25.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Costco Wholesale Trading Up 1.2%

NASDAQ COST opened at $946.51 on Wednesday. Costco Wholesale Corporation has a 12 month low of $867.34 and a 12 month high of $1,078.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a current ratio of 1.03 and a quick ratio of 0.55. The company has a market capitalization of $419.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 51.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.67 and a beta of 0.98. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $951.71 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $971.87.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, September 25th. The retailer reported $5.87 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 firm had revenue of $86.16 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $86.01 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $5.15 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 8.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Costco Wholesale Corporation will post 18.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.