Costco Wholesale Corporation $COST Shares Sold by Beck Mack & Oliver LLC

Key Points

• Beck Mack & Oliver LLC reduced its stake in Costco Wholesale by 5.5%, selling 581 shares, leaving them with holdings valued at approximately $9.37 million.
• Analysts have mixed outlooks with Telsey Advisory Group maintaining an "outperform" rating and setting a target price of $1,100, while Morgan Stanley raised their target to $1,225.
• Costco reported a quarterly EPS of $4.28, exceeding estimates and achieving revenue of $63.21 billion, which was an 8.0% increase from the previous year.

Beck Mack & Oliver LLC cut its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST - Free Report) by 5.5% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 9,912 shares of the retailer's stock after selling 581 shares during the period. Beck Mack & Oliver LLC's holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $9,374,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in COST. Investment Management Corp VA ADV purchased a new position in shares of Costco Wholesale in the fourth quarter worth approximately $25,000. Aspect Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 24.4% in the first quarter. Aspect Partners LLC now owns 56 shares of the retailer's stock worth $53,000 after acquiring an additional 11 shares in the last quarter. Capital A Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Costco Wholesale in the fourth quarter worth approximately $58,000. Mascagni Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Costco Wholesale in the fourth quarter worth approximately $59,000. Finally, Bank & Trust Co increased its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 20.4% in the first quarter. Bank & Trust Co now owns 65 shares of the retailer's stock worth $61,000 after acquiring an additional 11 shares in the last quarter. 68.48% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

COST has been the topic of several analyst reports. Telsey Advisory Group reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $1,100.00 target price on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research report on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,150.00 to $1,225.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, May 30th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $1,035.00 price target on shares of Costco Wholesale in a report on Thursday, May 29th. Loop Capital decreased their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,115.00 to $1,110.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 29th. Finally, Truist Financial raised their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $995.00 to $1,042.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, May 30th. Seventeen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $1,050.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Costco Wholesale news, EVP Pierre Riel sold 2,000 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,014.15, for a total value of $2,028,300.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 8,210 shares of the company's stock, valued at $8,326,171.50. The trade was a 19.59% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Patrick J. Callans sold 3,000 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,002.77, for a total value of $3,008,310.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 58,543 shares in the company, valued at approximately $58,705,164.11. This represents a 4.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 10,147 shares of company stock valued at $10,067,740 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company's stock.

Costco Wholesale Stock Performance

COST opened at $943.32 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a quick ratio of 0.52 and a current ratio of 1.02. The company has a market cap of $418.34 billion, a PE ratio of 53.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.86 and a beta of 0.96. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $966.42 and a 200-day moving average of $981.17. Costco Wholesale Corporation has a 52-week low of $867.16 and a 52-week high of $1,078.23.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 29th. The retailer reported $4.28 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $4.24 by $0.04. Costco Wholesale had a net margin of 2.92% and a return on equity of 30.48%. The company had revenue of $63.21 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $62.93 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $3.78 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was up 8.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Costco Wholesale Corporation will post 18.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Costco Wholesale Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 1st were paid 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 payout ratio is presently 29.50%.

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.

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