Plimoth Trust Co. LLC Increases Stake in Costco Wholesale Corporation $COST

Plimoth Trust Co. LLC boosted its stake in Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST) by 13.9% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 556 shares of the retailer’s stock after purchasing an additional 68 shares during the quarter. Plimoth Trust Co. LLC’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $550,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of COST. Personal CFO Solutions LLC raised its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 12.4% in the first quarter. Personal CFO Solutions LLC now owns 1,519 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,436,000 after buying an additional 167 shares during the period. F&V Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Costco Wholesale during the first quarter worth approximately $236,000. Graybill Wealth Management LTD. acquired a new stake in shares of Costco Wholesale in the first quarter worth $3,095,000. Rossmore Private Capital raised its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 0.9% in the 1st quarter. Rossmore Private Capital now owns 6,687 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $6,325,000 after acquiring an additional 62 shares during the period. Finally, Gateway Wealth Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 2.0% during the 1st quarter. Gateway Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,380 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,305,000 after acquiring an additional 27 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.48% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Costco Wholesale

In other news, EVP Yoram Rubanenko sold 4,000 shares of the company’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 value of $3,899,840.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 5,774 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,629,419.04. This represents a 40.92% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Russell D. Miller sold 3,381 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $915.00, for a total transaction of $3,093,615.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 9,740 shares in the company, valued at $8,912,100. This represents a 25.77% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 7,981 shares of company stock worth $7,588,685 over the last ninety days. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently issued reports on COST shares. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Costco Wholesale in a report on Saturday, September 27th. Roth Capital set a $907.00 target price on Costco Wholesale and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, September 26th. Erste Group Bank cut Costco Wholesale from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 5th. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $1,130.00 price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research report on Friday, September 26th. Finally, Argus lifted their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,170.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, September 29th. Nineteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,067.19.

Costco Wholesale Price Performance

NASDAQ COST opened at $915.38 on Monday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $953.54 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $972.15. Costco Wholesale Corporation has a 52 week low of $867.34 and a 52 week high of $1,078.23. The stock has a market cap of $405.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 50.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.55 and a beta of 0.98. The company has a current ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last issued 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 business had revenue of $86.16 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $86.01 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $5.15 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 8.1% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Costco Wholesale Corporation will post 18.03 EPS for the current year.

Costco Wholesale Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 1st were issued a dividend of $1.30 per share. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 1st. Costco Wholesale’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.