Aviso Financial Inc. Cuts Stake in Costco Wholesale Corporation $COST

Key Points

• Aviso Financial Inc. decreased its position in Costco Wholesale Corporation by 4.0% during the 1st quarter, selling 531 shares and ending with 12,721 shares valued at approximately $12 million.
• Several hedge funds are adjusting their stakes in Costco, with Vanguard Group Inc. increasing its holdings by 1.0% and GAMMA Investing LLC boosting their stake by an extraordinary 106,402.1%.
• Costco recently announced a quarterly dividend of $1.30, with a 0.5% yield and a payout ratio of 29.50%, reflecting the company's stable financial performance and commitment to returning value to shareholders.

Aviso Financial Inc. cut its holdings in Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST - Free Report) by 4.0% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 12,721 shares of the retailer's stock after selling 531 shares during the quarter. Aviso Financial Inc.'s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $12,031,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Bosun Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in Costco Wholesale by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. Bosun Asset Management LLC now owns 636 shares of the retailer's stock worth $583,000 after purchasing an additional 10 shares during the period. Corps Capital Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Costco Wholesale by 0.7% in the 1st quarter. Corps Capital Advisors LLC now owns 1,547 shares of the retailer's stock worth $1,463,000 after purchasing an additional 10 shares during the period. Covestor Ltd boosted its stake in Costco Wholesale by 8.6% in the 1st quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 126 shares of the retailer's stock worth $119,000 after purchasing an additional 10 shares during the period. Coppell Advisory Solutions LLC boosted its stake in Costco Wholesale by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Coppell Advisory Solutions LLC now owns 3,437 shares of the retailer's stock worth $3,163,000 after purchasing an additional 11 shares during the period. Finally, Rooted Wealth Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Costco Wholesale by 2.6% in the 1st quarter. Rooted Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 441 shares of the retailer's stock worth $404,000 after purchasing an additional 11 shares during the period. 68.48% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

COST has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Costco Wholesale from $1,150.00 to $1,225.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, May 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Costco Wholesale from $1,115.00 to $1,160.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. Telsey Advisory Group reiterated an "outperform" rating and set a $1,100.00 target price on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research report on Monday, August 4th. Erste Group Bank downgraded Costco Wholesale from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 5th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus set a $1,035.00 target price on Costco Wholesale in a research report on Thursday, May 29th. Seventeen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Costco Wholesale currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $1,050.00.

Costco Wholesale Trading Down 1.2%

COST traded down $11.9760 during trading on Friday, reaching $957.7040. The company had a trading volume of 1,501,435 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,202,499. The stock has a market cap of $424.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 54.29, a PEG ratio of 6.18 and a beta of 0.96. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $970.48 and a 200-day simple moving average of $985.89. Costco Wholesale Corporation has a 52 week low of $867.16 and a 52 week high of $1,078.23. 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 (NASDAQ:COST - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 29th. The retailer reported $4.28 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.24 by $0.04. Costco Wholesale had a return on equity of 30.48% and a net margin of 2.92%.The business had revenue of $63.21 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $62.93 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $3.78 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 8.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Costco Wholesale Corporation will post 18.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Costco Wholesale Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 1st were given a dividend of $1.30 per share. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 1st. Costco Wholesale's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 29.50%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Pierre Riel sold 2,000 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction on Friday, June 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,014.15, for a total transaction of $2,028,300.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 8,210 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,326,171.50. This trade represents a 19.59% 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 this link. Also, EVP Yoram Rubanenko sold 4,000 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction on Monday, July 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $974.96, for a total value of $3,899,840.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 5,774 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,629,419.04. This trade represents a 40.92% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 9,547 shares of company stock valued at $9,472,510 in the last three months. 0.18% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.