Duncan Williams Asset Management LLC Has $1.46 Million Stock Holdings in Costco Wholesale Corporation $COST

Duncan Williams Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST) by 8.9% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 1,478 shares of the retailer’s stock after purchasing an additional 121 shares during the quarter. Duncan Williams Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $1,463,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Bulwark Capital Corp bought a new stake in shares of Costco Wholesale in the second quarter worth about $25,000. Anderson Financial Strategies LLC increased its position 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 worth $38,000 after acquiring an additional 36 shares in the last quarter. eCIO Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Costco Wholesale in the 1st quarter valued at about $48,000. Aspect Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 24.4% in the first quarter. Aspect Partners LLC now owns 56 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $53,000 after purchasing an additional 11 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ransom Advisory Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Costco Wholesale during the first quarter worth about $61,000. 68.48% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

COST has been the topic of several research reports. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research note on Saturday, September 27th. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,137.00 to $1,140.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, September 26th. Erste Group Bank lowered Costco Wholesale from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on Costco Wholesale from $1,333.00 to $1,418.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 26th. Finally, DA Davidson reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $1,000.00 price target on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research note on Friday, September 26th. Nineteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,067.19.

Insider Transactions at Costco Wholesale

In other news, EVP Teresa A. Jones sold 600 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $992.05, for a total value of $595,230.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 2,362 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,343,222.10. This represents a 20.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Yoram Rubanenko sold 4,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $974.96, for a total transaction of $3,899,840.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 5,774 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,629,419.04. This trade represents a 40.92% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 7,981 shares of company stock worth $7,588,685. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Costco Wholesale Stock Down 0.2%

COST stock opened at $915.38 on Monday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $953.54 and a 200-day moving average price of $972.15. Costco Wholesale Corporation has a 12 month low of $867.34 and a 12 month high of $1,078.23. The company has a current ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. The stock has a market capitalization of $405.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 50.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.55 and a beta of 0.98.

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

Costco Wholesale Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 1st were given a $1.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 1st. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.6%. Costco Wholesale’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.