Birinyi Associates Inc. Boosts Holdings in Costco Wholesale Corporation $COST

Key Points

• Birinyi Associates Inc. increased its stake in Costco Wholesale by 149.5% during the 2nd quarter, now holding 3,181 shares valued at approximately $3.15 million.
• Insider selling at Costco involves significant transactions, with executives Teresa A. Jones and Russell D. Miller selling shares and reducing their holdings by over 20% and 25%, respectively.
• According to Wall Street analysts, Costco has a consensus target price of $1,067.19 and is rated as a "Moderate Buy" with 19 buy ratings and 11 hold ratings.

Birinyi Associates Inc. lifted its stake in Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST - Free Report) by 149.5% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 3,181 shares of the retailer's stock after buying an additional 1,906 shares during the quarter. Costco Wholesale makes up about 0.9% of Birinyi Associates Inc.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 21st largest position. Birinyi Associates Inc.'s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $3,148,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Costco Wholesale in the first quarter worth about $3,461,159,000. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC raised its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 418,980.3% during the 2nd quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC now owns 2,359,422 shares of the retailer's stock worth $2,335,686,000 after acquiring an additional 2,358,859 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 1.0% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 42,644,711 shares of the retailer's stock worth $40,332,515,000 after acquiring an additional 443,101 shares in the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI raised its stake in Costco Wholesale by 84.0% during the first quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 812,188 shares of the retailer's stock valued at $768,114,000 after purchasing an additional 370,806 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Valeo Financial Advisors LLC raised its stake in Costco Wholesale by 2,369.5% during the second quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC now owns 323,288 shares of the retailer's stock valued at $320,036,000 after purchasing an additional 310,197 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.48% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Costco Wholesale

In other Costco Wholesale news, EVP Teresa A. Jones sold 600 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $992.05, for a total value of $595,230.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 2,362 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,343,222.10. This represents a 20.26% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Russell D. Miller sold 3,381 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $915.00, for a total value of $3,093,615.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 9,740 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $8,912,100. This represents a 25.77% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 7,981 shares of company stock worth $7,588,685. Insiders own 0.18% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently issued reports on COST. Argus upped their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,170.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, September 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $1,160.00 to $1,050.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, September 26th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $1,333.00 to $1,418.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, September 26th. Evercore ISI decreased their price target on Costco Wholesale from $1,060.00 to $1,025.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, September 26th. Finally, Wolfe Research initiated coverage on Costco Wholesale in a report on Thursday, September 18th. They issued a "peer perform" rating on the stock. Nineteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $1,067.19.

Costco Wholesale Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ COST opened at $914.80 on Wednesday. Costco Wholesale Corporation has a 52 week low of $867.34 and a 52 week high of $1,078.23. The company has a quick ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. The firm has a market cap of $405.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 50.24, a P/E/G ratio of 5.52 and a beta of 0.98. The business's 50 day moving average price is $952.69 and its 200 day moving average price is $971.76.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, September 25th. The retailer reported $5.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.81 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $86.16 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $86.01 billion. Costco Wholesale had a net margin of 2.94% and a return on equity of 30.09%. The business's revenue was up 8.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $5.15 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Costco Wholesale Corporation will post 18.03 earnings per share for the current year.

Costco Wholesale Announces Dividend

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 $1.30 dividend. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 1st. Costco Wholesale's dividend payout ratio is 28.56%.

Costco Wholesale 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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.