Firestone Capital Management Has $733,000 Stake in Costco Wholesale Corporation $COST

Firestone Capital Management boosted its holdings in Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST) by 13.3% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 741 shares of the retailer’s stock after purchasing an additional 87 shares during the quarter. Firestone Capital Management’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $733,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in COST. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Costco Wholesale by 1.0% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 42,644,711 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $40,332,515,000 after purchasing an additional 443,101 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 1.5% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 10,275,056 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $10,124,263,000 after buying an additional 150,844 shares during the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. grew its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 0.4% during the first quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 4,332,009 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $4,097,127,000 after buying an additional 18,045 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 5.2% during the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,907,670 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $3,695,796,000 after buying an additional 191,985 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in Costco Wholesale in the 1st quarter valued at $3,461,159,000. 68.48% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Costco Wholesale news, EVP Claudine Adamo sold 2,700 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the executive vice president directly owned 6,851 shares in the company, valued at $6,410,343.68. The trade was a 28.27% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Russell D. Miller sold 3,381 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $915.00, for a total transaction of $3,093,615.00. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 10,320 shares of company stock valued at $9,605,487 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Costco Wholesale Stock Down 0.2%

Shares of NASDAQ:COST opened at $922.98 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $934.93 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $966.55. The company has a market cap of $409.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 50.69, a PEG ratio of 5.54 and a beta of 0.98. 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 one year low of $871.71 and a one year high of $1,078.23.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, September 25th. The retailer reported $5.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.81 by $0.06. The company 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 firm’s quarterly revenue was up 8.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $5.15 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Costco Wholesale Corporation will post 18.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Costco Wholesale Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 14th. Investors of record on Friday, October 31st were given a $1.30 dividend. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 31st. Costco Wholesale’s dividend payout ratio is 28.56%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have weighed in on the company. Oppenheimer cut their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $1,130.00 to $1,050.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, November 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,333.00 to $1,418.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 26th. Argus raised their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,170.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, September 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,050.00 to $1,025.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, November 6th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Costco Wholesale in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Nineteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,063.88.

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.