Vance Wealth Inc. Sells 48 Shares of Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)

Vance Wealth Inc. cut its holdings in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) by 5.4% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 835 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 48 shares during the period. Vance Wealth Inc.’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $740,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. FWG Holdings LLC grew its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 10.6% during the third quarter. FWG Holdings LLC now owns 408 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $363,000 after purchasing an additional 39 shares during the period. First City Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 25.2% during the third quarter. First City Capital Management Inc. now owns 963 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $854,000 after purchasing an additional 194 shares during the period. Princeton Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 0.6% during the third quarter. Princeton Capital Management LLC now owns 3,579 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $3,173,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the period. Wrapmanager Inc. grew its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 18.1% during the third quarter. Wrapmanager Inc. now owns 1,436 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,274,000 after purchasing an additional 220 shares during the period. Finally, BIP Wealth LLC grew its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 66.4% during the third quarter. BIP Wealth LLC now owns 1,499 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,329,000 after purchasing an additional 598 shares during the period. 68.48% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Claudine Adamo sold 3,200 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $888.99, for a total transaction of $2,844,768.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 8,630 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,671,983.70. This trade represents a 27.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Pierre Riel sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $896.71, for a total transaction of $1,793,420.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 10,210 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,155,409.10. The trade was a 16.38 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 11,016 shares of company stock worth $9,826,115. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have weighed in on COST. TD Cowen increased their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $925.00 to $975.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. Tigress Financial reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $1,065.00 price target on shares of Costco Wholesale in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on Costco Wholesale from $925.00 to $935.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on Costco Wholesale from $980.00 to $1,075.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday. Finally, Melius Research began coverage on Costco Wholesale in a report on Monday, September 23rd. They issued a “hold” rating and a $950.00 price target for the company. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $908.81.

Costco Wholesale Stock Performance

Costco Wholesale stock opened at $919.51 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $898.08 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $860.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a quick ratio of 0.44 and a current ratio of 0.97. The stock has a market cap of $407.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 55.49, a PEG ratio of 5.60 and a beta of 0.80. Costco Wholesale Co. has a fifty-two week low of $577.34 and a fifty-two week high of $962.00.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, September 26th. The retailer reported $5.15 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.05 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $79.70 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $79.91 billion. Costco Wholesale had a return on equity of 31.05% and a net margin of 2.90%. The business’s revenue was up 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $4.86 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 17.75 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Costco Wholesale Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 1st were issued a dividend of $1.16 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 1st. This represents a $4.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.50%. Costco Wholesale’s payout ratio is 28.00%.

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.