Westpac Banking Corp Acquires New Holdings in Costco Wholesale Corporation $COST

Westpac Banking Corp bought a new stake in Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST) in the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor bought 201 shares of the retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $199,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. Bulwark Capital Corp acquired a new position in Costco Wholesale during the second quarter worth $25,000. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA acquired a new stake in shares of Costco Wholesale in the second quarter worth about $31,000. Anderson Financial Strategies LLC boosted its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 900.0% during the 1st 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. Financial Connections Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 975.0% during the 2nd quarter. Financial Connections Group Inc. now owns 43 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $42,000 after acquiring an additional 39 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Frazier Financial Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 72.0% during the 2nd quarter. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC now owns 43 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $43,000 after acquiring an additional 18 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.48% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Costco Wholesale

In other news, 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 sale, the executive vice president directly owned 9,740 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,912,100. The trade was a 25.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP William Richard Wilcox sold 2,400 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $930.13, for a total value of $2,232,312.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 2,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,860,260. The trade was a 54.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 10,320 shares of company stock valued at $9,605,487 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Costco Wholesale Trading Down 1.1%

Shares of COST stock opened at $912.59 on Tuesday. Costco Wholesale Corporation has a 1 year low of $871.71 and a 1 year high of $1,078.23. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $933.74 and its 200 day simple moving average is $965.75. The firm has a market capitalization of $404.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 50.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.54 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 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $86.01 billion. Costco Wholesale had a net margin of 2.94% and a return on equity of 30.09%. The business’s revenue was up 8.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $5.15 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Costco Wholesale Corporation will post 18.03 EPS for the current year.

Costco Wholesale Announces Dividend

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

COST has been the subject of several analyst reports. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Costco Wholesale in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Mizuho dropped their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $975.00 to $950.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 9th. Citigroup reduced their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,065.00 to $990.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, September 29th. Argus raised their target price 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. Finally, Roth Capital set a $907.00 target price on shares of Costco Wholesale and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, September 26th. Nineteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,063.88.

Costco Wholesale Profile

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.