Costco Wholesale Corporation $COST Shares Sold by Focus Partners Advisor Solutions LLC

Focus Partners Advisor Solutions LLC trimmed its holdings in Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST) by 30.3% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 7,552 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 3,281 shares during the period. Focus Partners Advisor Solutions LLC’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $7,475,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Brighton Jones LLC raised its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 12.3% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 19,825 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $18,165,000 after acquiring an additional 2,172 shares in the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 13.1% during the 4th quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,123 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,029,000 after acquiring an additional 130 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 12.6% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 8,628 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $8,160,000 after acquiring an additional 966 shares in the last quarter. Omnia Family Wealth LLC grew its stake in Costco Wholesale by 38.6% during the 1st quarter. Omnia Family Wealth LLC now owns 463 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $438,000 after buying an additional 129 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Perigon Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in Costco Wholesale by 3.9% during the 1st quarter. Perigon Wealth Management LLC now owns 21,712 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $20,535,000 after buying an additional 816 shares during the last quarter. 68.48% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently commented on COST shares. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $1,225.00 to $1,130.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, September 26th. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research note on Thursday, October 9th. DA Davidson restated a “neutral” rating and set a $1,000.00 price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research note on Friday, September 26th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $1,333.00 to $1,418.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 26th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on Costco Wholesale from $1,160.00 to $1,050.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, September 26th. Nineteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Costco Wholesale has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,068.15.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Tiffany Marie Barbre sold 1,239 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, October 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $934.62, for a total transaction of $1,157,994.18. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 5,155 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,817,966.10. This represents a 19.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Claudine Adamo sold 2,700 shares of the company’s 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 directly owned 6,851 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,410,343.68. This represents a 28.27% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 7,920 shares of company stock valued at $7,373,175. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Costco Wholesale Trading Down 1.1%

Shares of Costco Wholesale stock opened at $932.14 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. The firm has a market cap of $413.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 51.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.72 and a beta of 0.98. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $945.23 and a 200-day simple moving average of $971.67. Costco Wholesale Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $867.34 and a fifty-two week high of $1,078.23.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, September 25th. The retailer reported $5.87 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.81 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $86.16 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $86.01 billion. Costco Wholesale had a return on equity of 30.09% and a net margin of 2.94%.The company’s revenue was up 8.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $5.15 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast 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 will be paid on Friday, November 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 31st will be issued a dividend of $1.30 per share. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 31st. Costco Wholesale’s dividend payout ratio is currently 28.56%.

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.