Orion Capital Management LLC Sells 42 Shares of Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)

Orion Capital Management LLC trimmed its position in shares of Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) by 2.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,946 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 42 shares during the period. Orion Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $1,285,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 1.0% during the third quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 28,855 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $16,302,000 after acquiring an additional 273 shares in the last quarter. Keating Investment Counselors Inc. lifted its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 43.0% during the third quarter. Keating Investment Counselors Inc. now owns 2,643 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,493,000 after acquiring an additional 795 shares in the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 28.9% during the fourth quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 272,288 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $179,822,000 after acquiring an additional 61,122 shares in the last quarter. Rice Partnership LLC lifted its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 21.0% during the third quarter. Rice Partnership LLC now owns 11,741 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $6,633,000 after acquiring an additional 2,038 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Rappaport Reiches Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 23.5% during the fourth quarter. Rappaport Reiches Capital Management LLC now owns 814 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $538,000 after acquiring an additional 155 shares in the last quarter. 68.48% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Costco Wholesale news, EVP Russell D. Miller sold 785 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $722.86, for a total value of $567,445.10. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 10,000 shares in the company, valued at $7,228,600. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other Costco Wholesale news, EVP Russell D. Miller sold 785 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $722.86, for a total value of $567,445.10. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 10,000 shares in the company, valued at $7,228,600. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Claudine Adamo sold 1,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $714.83, for a total transaction of $1,072,245.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 6,695 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,785,786.85. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 3,727 shares of company stock valued at $2,682,948 over the last ninety days. 0.18% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on COST. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $760.00 to $805.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 5th. Roth Mkm increased their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $601.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Telsey Advisory Group reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $800.00 price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $665.00 to $749.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 8th. Finally, Loop Capital lowered their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $830.00 to $820.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $694.48.

Costco Wholesale Trading Up 0.8 %

Shares of NASDAQ COST traded up $5.83 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $728.73. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 837,444 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,030,196. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a current ratio of 0.93. The stock has a market cap of $323.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 47.12, a P/E/G ratio of 4.84 and a beta of 0.77. Costco Wholesale Co. has a 12 month low of $476.75 and a 12 month high of $787.08. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $730.40 and a 200-day simple moving average of $669.72.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, March 7th. The retailer reported $3.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.62 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $58.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $59.11 billion. Costco Wholesale had a return on equity of 28.80% and a net margin of 2.73%. Costco Wholesale’s quarterly revenue was up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $3.30 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 15.84 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Costco Wholesale Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 10th. Investors of record on Friday, April 26th will be paid a $1.16 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 25th. This is a boost from Costco Wholesale’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.02. This represents a $4.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.64%. Costco Wholesale’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 30.35%.

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.