Montag A & Associates Inc. Reduces Holdings in Costco Wholesale Corporation $COST

Montag A & Associates Inc. reduced its position in shares of Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST) by 7.6% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 15,649 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 1,285 shares during the quarter. Montag A & Associates Inc.’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $15,491,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Peterson Wealth Services lifted its position in Costco Wholesale by 0.5% in the 2nd quarter. Peterson Wealth Services now owns 13,616 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $13,479,000 after purchasing an additional 72 shares during the last quarter. Fishman Jay A Ltd. MI increased its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 3.5% in the second quarter. Fishman Jay A Ltd. MI now owns 16,888 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $16,718,000 after purchasing an additional 575 shares during the period. Independent Solutions Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 0.3% during the second quarter. Independent Solutions Wealth Management LLC now owns 20,638 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $20,430,000 after buying an additional 53 shares during the last quarter. Laffer Tengler Investments Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 22.7% during the second quarter. Laffer Tengler Investments Inc. now owns 5,903 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $5,844,000 after buying an additional 1,092 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Graybill Wealth Management LTD. acquired a new position in shares of Costco Wholesale during the first quarter worth approximately $3,095,000. 68.48% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Costco Wholesale Trading Down 0.8%

Shares of COST stock opened at $915.56 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $937.57 and a 200 day simple moving average of $968.23. The stock has a market capitalization of $405.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 50.28, a P/E/G ratio of 5.54 and a beta of 0.98. Costco Wholesale Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $871.71 and a fifty-two week high of $1,078.23. The company has a quick ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, September 25th. The retailer reported $5.87 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 analysts’ expectations of $86.01 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $5.15 earnings per share. Costco Wholesale’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Costco Wholesale Corporation will post 18.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Costco Wholesale Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 14th. Investors of record on Friday, October 31st will be issued a dividend of $1.30 per share. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 31st. Costco Wholesale’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 28.56%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Costco Wholesale

In other news, EVP Claudine Adamo sold 2,700 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, October 24th. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $6,410,343.68. This trade represents a 28.27% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Tiffany Marie Barbre sold 1,239 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction on Friday, October 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $934.62, for a total value of $1,157,994.18. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 5,155 shares in the company, valued at $4,817,966.10. The trade was a 19.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 7,920 shares of company stock valued at $7,373,175. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently commented on COST shares. Daiwa Capital Markets lowered their target price on Costco Wholesale from $1,005.00 to $947.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, September 30th. Oppenheimer decreased their price target on Costco Wholesale from $1,130.00 to $1,050.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, November 3rd. Argus raised their price target on Costco Wholesale from $1,170.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, September 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective 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. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein decreased their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,140.00 to $1,134.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, November 4th. Nineteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Costco Wholesale has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average 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.