Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. Decreases Stock Holdings in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)

Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. decreased its holdings in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) by 5.5% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 4,997 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 293 shares during the quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $4,247,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Tennessee Valley Asset Management Partners purchased a new stake in Costco Wholesale in the 4th quarter worth approximately $207,000. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC boosted its stake in Costco Wholesale by 12.1% in the 4th quarter. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC now owns 15,184 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $10,022,000 after purchasing an additional 1,640 shares during the period. Fonville Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Costco Wholesale in the 4th quarter worth approximately $281,000. Sterling Financial Planning Inc. boosted its stake in Costco Wholesale by 23.5% in the 4th quarter. Sterling Financial Planning Inc. now owns 914 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $603,000 after purchasing an additional 174 shares during the period. Finally, HTLF Bank bought a new position in Costco Wholesale in the 4th quarter worth approximately $4,194,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.48% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Costco Wholesale

In other news, insider Daniel M. Hines sold 1,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $844.20, for a total transaction of $1,266,300.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 12,492 shares in the company, valued at $10,545,746.40. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Costco Wholesale news, Director Susan L. Decker sold 620 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $876.50, for a total value of $543,430.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 11,775 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,320,787.50. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Daniel M. Hines sold 1,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $844.20, for a total value of $1,266,300.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 12,492 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,545,746.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 4,970 shares of company stock worth $4,249,526. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have weighed in on COST. Citigroup upped their price target on Costco Wholesale from $710.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, May 31st. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on Costco Wholesale from $875.00 to $950.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, August 12th. Truist Financial increased their target price on Costco Wholesale from $815.00 to $873.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 31st. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on Costco Wholesale from $850.00 to $975.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 11th. Finally, Loop Capital increased their target price on Costco Wholesale from $940.00 to $970.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 11th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $824.50.

Costco Wholesale Stock Down 0.0 %

Costco Wholesale stock traded down $0.43 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $870.16. The stock had a trading volume of 631,624 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,978,993. Costco Wholesale Co. has a 52 week low of $530.56 and a 52 week high of $896.67. The company has a market cap of $385.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 53.92, a PEG ratio of 5.79 and a beta of 0.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 0.94 and a quick ratio of 0.45. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $848.44 and its 200-day moving average price is $783.16.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 30th. The retailer reported $3.78 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.70 by $0.08. Costco Wholesale had a return on equity of 30.02% and a net margin of 2.83%. The business had revenue of $58.52 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $58.16 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $3.43 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 15.98 EPS for the current year.

Costco Wholesale Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 9th. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 26th were paid a dividend of $1.16 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, July 26th. This represents a $4.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.53%. Costco Wholesale’s payout ratio is 28.75%.

Costco Wholesale Company 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.