Costco Wholesale Corporation $COST Shares Sold by Thornburg Investment Management Inc.

Thornburg Investment Management Inc. reduced its position in Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST) by 34.3% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 6,152 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 3,206 shares during the period. Thornburg Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $6,090,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 1.7% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 43,356,271 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $42,920,107,000 after acquiring an additional 711,560 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Costco Wholesale by 1.5% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 10,275,056 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $10,124,263,000 after purchasing an additional 150,844 shares during the period. Alliancebernstein L.P. grew its position in Costco Wholesale by 0.4% during the 1st quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 4,332,009 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $4,097,127,000 after purchasing an additional 18,045 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its position in Costco Wholesale by 5.2% during the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,907,670 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $3,695,796,000 after purchasing an additional 191,985 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in Costco Wholesale in the first quarter valued at $3,461,159,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.48% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

COST has been the subject of several recent research reports. Daiwa Capital Markets decreased their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,005.00 to $947.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, September 30th. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research report on Thursday, October 9th. Citigroup lowered their target price on Costco Wholesale from $1,065.00 to $990.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, September 29th. Morgan Stanley cut their price target 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. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research report on Monday. Eighteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and thirteen have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Costco Wholesale has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,025.07.

Insider Activity at Costco Wholesale

In related news, EVP William Richard Wilcox sold 2,400 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $930.13, for a total transaction of $2,232,312.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 2,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,860,260. The trade was a 54.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Claudine Adamo sold 2,700 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $935.68, for a total transaction of $2,526,336.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 6,851 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,410,343.68. This trade represents a 28.27% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 9,720 shares of company stock worth $9,010,257 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Costco Wholesale Stock Up 0.9%

COST opened at $894.33 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a current ratio of 1.03 and a quick ratio of 0.55. Costco Wholesale Corporation has a 12 month low of $871.71 and a 12 month high of $1,078.23. The stock has a market capitalization of $396.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 49.11, a P/E/G ratio of 5.54 and a beta of 0.98. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $925.31 and a 200-day simple moving average of $960.83.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, September 25th. The retailer reported $5.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.81 by $0.06. Costco Wholesale had a return on equity of 30.09% and a net margin of 2.94%.The firm had revenue of $86.16 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $86.01 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $5.15 earnings per share. Costco Wholesale’s revenue was up 8.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate 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. Investors of record on Friday, October 31st were paid a $1.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 31st. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.6%. Costco Wholesale’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 28.56%.

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.