Absher Wealth Management LLC Reduces Position in Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST)

Absher Wealth Management LLC lowered its position in Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST - Free Report) by 2.5% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 24,923 shares of the retailer's stock after selling 649 shares during the period. Costco Wholesale comprises approximately 3.1% of Absher Wealth Management LLC's holdings, making the stock its 20th largest position. Absher Wealth Management LLC's holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $23,571,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Redmond Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Costco Wholesale during the fourth quarter valued at about $1,214,000. May Barnhard Investments LLC purchased a new position in shares of Costco Wholesale during the fourth quarter valued at about $485,000. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. grew its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. now owns 3,852 shares of the retailer's stock valued at $3,529,000 after purchasing an additional 22 shares in the last quarter. Brighton Jones LLC grew its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 12.3% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 19,825 shares of the retailer's stock valued at $18,165,000 after purchasing an additional 2,172 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA purchased a new position in shares of Costco Wholesale during the fourth quarter valued at about $8,776,000. Institutional investors own 68.48% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on COST shares. Barclays raised their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $940.00 to $980.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Monday, March 10th. Truist Financial raised their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $995.00 to $1,042.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, May 30th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on Costco Wholesale from $1,075.00 to $1,125.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, March 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Costco Wholesale from $1,065.00 to $1,070.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Finally, Evercore ISI dropped their price target on Costco Wholesale from $1,075.00 to $1,060.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, June 17th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-one have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Costco Wholesale has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $1,034.79.

Costco Wholesale Stock Up 0.6%

COST stock traded up $5.39 during trading on Friday, hitting $980.29. 3,250,821 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,063,545. The firm has a market capitalization of $434.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 55.60, a PEG ratio of 5.79 and a beta of 1.00. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $1,002.94 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $981.03. The company has a quick ratio of 0.52, a current ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. Costco Wholesale Corporation has a 1 year low of $793.00 and a 1 year high of $1,078.24.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 29th. The retailer reported $4.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.24 by $0.04. Costco Wholesale had a net margin of 2.92% and a return on equity of 30.48%. The business had revenue of $63.21 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $62.93 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $3.78 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 8.0% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Costco Wholesale Corporation will post 18.03 EPS for the current year.

Costco Wholesale Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 16th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 2nd were issued a $1.30 dividend. This is a positive change from Costco Wholesale's previous quarterly dividend of $1.16. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.53%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 2nd. Costco Wholesale's payout ratio is currently 29.50%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Costco Wholesale news, Director Susan L. Decker sold 547 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $980.00, for a total value of $536,060.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 11,531 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $11,300,380. The trade was a 4.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Claudine Adamo sold 900 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction on Monday, March 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $922.56, for a total transaction of $830,304.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 6,987 shares in the company, valued at $6,445,926.72. This represents a 11.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 11,547 shares of company stock valued at $11,361,265. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.