Costco Wholesale Corporation $COST Shares Purchased by Centric Wealth Management

Key Points

• Centric Wealth Management increased its stake in Costco Wholesale by 21%, acquiring an additional 619 shares, bringing its total holdings to 3,564 shares valued at approximately $3.37 million.
• Costco reported a quarterly EPS of $4.28, exceeding estimates, with revenue of $63.21 billion, up 8% year-over-year; analysts predict an EPS of 18.03 for the current fiscal year.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $1.30, resulting in an annualized dividend yield of 0.6% and a payout ratio of 29.5%.

Centric Wealth Management boosted its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST - Free Report) by 21.0% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,564 shares of the retailer's stock after purchasing an additional 619 shares during the quarter. Centric Wealth Management's holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $3,370,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Costco Wholesale by 1.0% during the first 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 during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 106,402.1% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 8,160,190 shares of the retailer's stock worth $7,717,744,000 after acquiring an additional 8,152,528 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 5.2% during the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,907,670 shares of the retailer's stock worth $3,695,796,000 after purchasing an additional 191,985 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in shares of Costco Wholesale during the first quarter worth about $3,461,159,000. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC boosted its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 3.9% in the first quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 3,357,630 shares of the retailer's stock valued at $3,175,579,000 after acquiring an additional 125,441 shares during the last quarter. 68.48% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Costco Wholesale news, EVP Teresa A. Jones sold 600 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 20th. The stock was 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 directly owned 2,362 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,343,222.10. This represents a 20.26% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Susan L. Decker sold 547 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $980.00, for a total value of $536,060.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 11,531 shares in the company, valued at $11,300,380. This represents a 4.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 10,147 shares of company stock valued at $10,067,740 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company's stock.

Costco Wholesale Price Performance

Shares of COST traded down $4.50 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $938.82. The company had a trading volume of 1,727,718 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,217,451. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a quick ratio of 0.52 and a current ratio of 1.02. Costco Wholesale Corporation has a 1-year low of $867.16 and a 1-year high of $1,078.23. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $965.20 and its 200 day simple moving average is $979.61. The company has a market capitalization of $416.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 53.25, a P/E/G ratio of 5.86 and a beta of 0.97.

Costco Wholesale Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 1st were paid a dividend of $1.30 per share. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 1st. Costco Wholesale's dividend payout ratio is 29.50%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have weighed in on COST. Evercore ISI lowered their price target on Costco Wholesale from $1,075.00 to $1,060.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, June 17th. Loop Capital cut their target price on Costco Wholesale from $1,115.00 to $1,110.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 29th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $1,035.00 price objective on Costco Wholesale in a report on Thursday, May 29th. Erste Group Bank cut Costco Wholesale from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, August 5th. Finally, Truist Financial upped their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $995.00 to $1,042.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, May 30th. Seventeen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $1,050.00.

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.