Insider Selling: Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) EVP Sells $2,844,768.00 in Stock

Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) EVP Claudine Adamo sold 3,200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $888.99, for a total value of $2,844,768.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 8,630 shares in the company, valued at $7,671,983.70. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website.

Costco Wholesale Stock Up 0.8 %

Shares of NASDAQ:COST opened at $883.11 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $875.41 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $821.29. Costco Wholesale Co. has a 12-month low of $540.23 and a 12-month high of $923.83. The stock has a market capitalization of $391.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 54.72, a PEG ratio of 5.38 and a beta of 0.80.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, September 26th. The retailer reported $5.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.05 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $79.70 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $79.91 billion. Costco Wholesale had a net margin of 2.90% and a return on equity of 31.30%. Costco Wholesale’s revenue was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $4.86 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 17.74 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Costco Wholesale Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 9th. Investors of record on Friday, July 26th were given a dividend of $1.16 per share. This represents a $4.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.53%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, July 26th. Costco Wholesale’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 28.75%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Costco Wholesale

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 1.2% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 40,833,870 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $29,916,118,000 after purchasing an additional 473,702 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors raised its position in Costco Wholesale by 8.1% in the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 3,824,778 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $2,802,147,000 after buying an additional 285,533 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its stake in Costco Wholesale by 2.5% during the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 3,650,562 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $3,102,941,000 after acquiring an additional 88,550 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 3.0% during the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 2,790,935 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,842,241,000 after acquiring an additional 81,853 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 28.2% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,538,078 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,307,363,000 after acquiring an additional 338,780 shares during the period. 68.48% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Truist Financial lowered Costco Wholesale from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $873.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $876.00 to $995.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $915.00 to $925.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Tigress Financial raised their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $870.00 to $975.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 25th. Finally, Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $874.00 to $962.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 11th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $883.04.

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.